Spain completes Gibraltar’s ‘long overdue’ removal from tax haven blacklist

Spain’s Government has formally removed Gibraltar from its blacklist of tax havens, publishing the measure in the country’s official gazette on Saturday.

Spain’s Ministry of Finance had previously published a draft ministerial order on Gibraltar last May but the long-awaited step has now been formalised.

It comes into effect on Sunday, June 28.

Gibraltar had been on the Spanish list since 1991 and that designation persisted through successive reforms over 35 years, notwithstanding Gibraltar's well-established record as a transparent and internationally cooperative jurisdiction.

Gibraltar has been on the OECD whitelist for tax transparency since 2009 and has never appeared on the European Union's own list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in respect of tax information exchange.

When the tax treaty between Spain and the UK in respect of Gibraltar entered into force in March 2021, Spain committed explicitly to remove Gibraltar from its blacklist within two years.

But that commitment was not met until now.

“Gibraltar should never have been on the Spanish list of non-cooperative jurisdictions,” Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told the Chronicle.

“After the tax treaty all the excuses Spain had used to keep us on the list completely fell away.”

“Our removal from the list was, thus, long overdue.”

“This is therefore a moment for celebration of a historic wrong of over 30 years being finally undone.”

“The result will mean a lot to many people with cross frontier interests, not least businesses, workers and those with second homes in Spain.”

"I want to thank all those in the Government of Gibraltar negotiating teams who have helped us deliver this result, not least Michael Llamas CMG KC and former Financial Secretary Albert Mena CBE, as well as the many in the UK FCDO and Treasury who assisted us through this process, in particular former British Ambassadors to Spain Sir Simon Manley KCMG and Hugh Elliott, the current British Ambassador to Spain Sir Alex Ellis KCMG, as well as the current Ambassador to the EU Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby CMG. Additionally, the team at the Gibraltar Tax Office, under John Lester, who have been in the driving seat of delivering on our commitments under the Tax Treaty and have ensured we have voided any excuse to suggest that Gibraltar should not be removed from the Spanish list of non-cooperative jurisdictions."

"This is a magnificent result and all of Gibraltar should celebrate it."