The Government is maintaining close contact with the mainland authorities on the adoption in Macao of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, an initiative of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Speaking to reporters on Sunday (10 December) after the “Walk for A Million” charity event, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac, said it was believed that the adoption of the Convention would be helpful in ensuring Macao was taken off the European Union’s (EU’s) list of “non-cooperative” taxation jurisdictions.

The Government will work diligently for such an outcome, on the proviso there is evidence that other jurisdictions in a similar position have had similar listing status lifted after taking follow-up measures, said Mr Leong.

Secretary Leong reiterated that the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) was absolutely not a so-called “tax-avoidance haven”.

The Government considered the decision of the EU to include Macao on its list of “non-cooperative” taxation jurisdictions as being unilateral and biased, and the decision did not take into consideration the actual situation in the city.

Macao has always closely engaged with international bodies and the EU in the exchange of tax information and in the fight against cross-border tax evasion.

Mr Leong noted Macao obtained six “substantial effectiveness” ratings – regarding the effectiveness of its supervision efforts against money laundering – in the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) 2017.

Relevant law – passed in the Legislative Assembly this year – would facilitate prosecutions regarding suspected money laundering crimes and lead to a higher incidence of convictions for such offences, he added.