Colombia includes Panama in list of tax havens

By means of a statement of the Colombian Treasury Department, Panama was included in a list of tax havens, together with other countries such as Barbados, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. The above mentioned countries were excluded from the list during 2013, but due to the fact that their governments didn't sign a tax information exchange agreement before 7th October, they were included again.

Mauricio Cárdenas, Head of the Treasury Department, stated that Colombia has assumed policies to promote the cooperation between countries in the means of avoiding tax evasion, according to the principles of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The document also points out that "the Colombian policy is clear and follows defined rules on how to proceed regarding any transactions made in tax havens".

41 jurisdictions were included in the list, which is checked every year by the Colombian government. Nevertheless, according to a new Decree, the countries that subscribe the agreement can be removed from the list at any time by the Executive.

Panama tried to negotiate more time to analyse the situation. Past Panamanian governments have denied signing the agreement with the neighbouring country.