Following amendments to the Tax Code effective January 2017, the President of the Republic approved on 11 July the list of low-tax foreign jurisdictions (and territories), i.e., those “where the tax rate is at least twice lower than the rate established by [the] Tax Code and with law protecting confidentiality of information of companies able to protect secrecy of their financial data or [beneficial owners]”. Payments to persons of such jurisdictions will be considered sourced from Azerbaijan, transactions with such persons will be valued for taxation based on transfer prices, and income of an Azerbaijani tax resident from holding directly or indirectly more than 20 per cent of the charter (equity) capital of or more than 20 per cent of the voting powers in a non-resident deriving income in such jurisdiction will be taxable in Azerbaijan.

The list includes the following 40 jurisdictions: Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey, Hong Kong (China), Isle of Man, Jersey, Liberia, Lichtenstein, Macao (China), Maldives, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Montserrat, Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, Niue, Palau, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Turks and Caicos Islands, Vanuatu, and US Virgin Islands.

The list is effective during 2018 and, subsequently, will be updated annually.