Italy removes Guernsey, Jersey from tax blacklist

The Italian Ministry of Finance has removed multiple tax-friendly jurisdictions from its tax blacklist as a result of improved transparency and heightened standards in the exchange of tax information.

Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance Pier Carlo Padoan signed amendments within the 2015 Finance Act axing a prior provision that jurisdictions “should not have a privileged tax regime.” Now, the only determining factor is whether or not countries have an adequate tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) with Italy.

The change puts such favored private fund domiciles as Guernsey, Jersey, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands back in Italy’s good graces.

“This is welcome news for the practitioners within our finance industry as it should open up some interesting opportunities across the finance sector but particularly within the private wealth sector,” said head of technical at Guernsey Finance Sinéad Leddy in a statement.

A TIEA between Italy and Guernsey was signed in September 2012 and came into effect earlier this year.

“I’m pleased that this has now been recognized by the Italian tax authorities and we look forward to other jurisdictions following suit,” Leddy said.

The blacklist still includes Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Monaco, despite the fact that all have recently signed TIEAs with Italy, according to a report from Tax News.