2025 Regulation low- and non-cooperative tax jurisdictions
09/01/25
The 2025 Regulation on low-tax states and non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes contains the Dutch list of designated low-tax jurisdictions for the application of the Dutch Controlled Foreign Corporations (CFC) legislation, and regarding the conditional withholding tax on interest and royalty payments and, as of 1 January 2024, dividend payments.
Compared to the 2024 regulation, the 2025 does not include Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Seychelles.
What does this mean for your organisation?
When your Dutch company pays interest, royalties, or dividends to an affiliated entity in a designated low-tax jurisdiction, it may be subject to a conditional withholding tax on these payments. Low-tax jurisdictions, in this context, are jurisdictions with a statutory profit tax rate of 9% or less, as well as countries included on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. The rate of the conditional withholding tax is equal to the highest corporate tax rate, which is currently 25.8%.
If your company has a participation in a Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) located in a designated low-tax jurisdiction, the CFC measure in corporate tax ensures that 'benefits from a controlled entity' are included in the taxable base of the Dutch company participating in the CFC. As a result, your company may effectively be taxed on certain passive income generated through the CFC.
Designated low-tax jurisdictions: list valid for 2025
The Dutch list of low-tax jurisdictions was revised at the end of December 2024. It reflects the state of affairs as of 1 October 2024 and applies to the year 2025. The Dutch list includes jurisdictions with no profit tax or a profit tax rate of less than 9%, as well as jurisdictions included in the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions published in October 2024.
- The Dutch list of states without a profit tax or with a profit tax at a rate of less than 9% is the same as the 2024 list.
- Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Seychelles were removed from the EU blacklist last year, so they do not appear in the Regulation.
- Despite the delisting of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands from the EU list, these two jurisdictions appear on the Regulation as their CIT rate is below 9%. As a result, their delisting from the EU list has no effect.
Below is an overview of the countries classified as low-tax jurisdictions for the year 2025:
Dutch list of states without a profit tax or with a profit tax at a rate of less than 9% |
EU-list of non-cooperative jurisdictions |
Anguilla Bahamas Bahrein Barbados Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Turkmenistan Turks- and Caicos Islands Vanuatu
|
United States Virgin Islands American Samoa Anguilla Fiji Guam Palau Panama Russian Federation Samoa Trinidad and Tobago Vanuatu
|
Designated low-tax jurisdictions: importance of the list
The Dutch list of low-tax jurisdictions contains countries with a profit tax with a statutory rate of less than 9 percent. The Dutch list is revised every year according to the state of affairs as of 1 October, and applies in the following year. In addition, the Dutch list contains the countries that are included in the October version of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. The most recent EU list for a given year therefore applies in the following year.
The countries on the Dutch list of low-tax jurisdictions and the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions are jointly designated as low-tax jurisdictions for the application of the conditional withholding tax on interest, royalty and dividend payments, and for the application of the CFC measure in corporate tax.
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