The Island is one of three jurisdictions which have been added to the list compiled by François Hollande’s socialist government which now contains the names of ten states. The other two new entries are Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands.
France’s inclusion of Jersey on the blacklist is likely to be seen as an embarrassing slap in the face for ministers who have consistently said that they had broken new ground in addressing accusations internationally that Jersey was a secretive tax haven.
It is understood that Jersey was placed on the list because of delays in responses to requests made by the French authorities for tax information about its citizens.
Jersey Finance chief executive Geoff Cook has described the decision as ‘frankly astonishing’.
He said: ‘The pretext for this move is Jersey is, in the opinion of the French tax administration, “unco-operative” on information exchange. The contention is ludicrous given the track record of Jersey in the transparency field.’
