Is Andorra still a tax haven?

What is meant by a tax haven?

There is no single legal definition of a “tax haven”. In public debate, the expression covers different realities: very low taxation, banking secrecy, refusal to cooperate with other administrations. Official texts take a different approach: they draw up lists of non-cooperative jurisdictions, according to each institution’s own criteria, focused on transparency and tax cooperation.

Three lists matter for a French national: the European Union’s, France’s (the non-cooperative states and territories, or ETNC) and, historically, the OECD’s. This site does not use the expression “tax haven” to describe Andorra, one way or the other: it keeps to the lists and the facts.

Why was Andorra considered a tax haven?

Because, until the end of the 2000s, it combined three features that reforms have since erased: almost no direct taxes, very limited access by the authorities to banking information and a place on the OECD list.

• Recent direct taxes: corporate income tax and non-resident income tax were created by laws of 29 December 2010, IGI has applied since 2013 and personal income tax since 2015.
• Banking secrecy: according to the OECD’s 2009 report, Andorra had not then signed any information exchange agreement meeting its standards, and it could access banking information only for savings income, in cases of tax fraud, under its agreements with the European Union; tax fraud there required the falsification of documents.
• The OECD list: in 2002 the OECD had identified it, along with Liechtenstein and Monaco, as an uncooperative tax haven. On 10 March 2009, Andorra undertook to reform its banking secrecy legislation before 15 November 2009, and the OECD removed it from its list the same year.
• The European Union list: it still appeared in Annex II from December 2017 to December 2018, while it abolished the special regimes of its corporate income tax.

The reforms followed: an information exchange agreement with France as early as 22 September 2009, the creation of direct taxes, and automatic exchange of banking information since 2018. The label therefore refers mainly to the Andorra of before 2010; if it persists, it is because rates remain low, as the rest of this page shows.

The EU blacklist and grey list: Andorra in 2026

In the update of 9 October 2026, Andorra appears in neither Annex I nor Annex II of the European Union list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. Annex I is the “blacklist”; Annex II, often called the “grey list”, tracks the commitments made by other jurisdictions. Neither Monaco nor Andorra, France’s neighbours, appears in either annex.

Source: European Commission, update of 9 October 2026.

Andorra appeared in Annex II from December 2017 to December 2018. It came off the list after the reform of its corporate income tax, which abolished the criticised special regimes: see our guide to corporate income tax in Andorra and our news item EU blacklist: Andorra still not listed.

France’s list of non-cooperative states and territories

Andorra is not on it. France keeps its own list, provided for by Article 238-0 A of the French General Tax Code; transactions with these states and territories are subject to stricter tax measures. The list in force since 27 April 2026, set by the ministerial order of 15 April 2026, has 11 jurisdictions:

• Anguilla
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Guam
• Turks and Caicos Islands
• US Virgin Islands
• Palau
• Panama
• Russia
• American Samoa
• Vanuatu
• Viet Nam

The measures specific to ETNC therefore do not apply to transactions with Andorra. That does not mean, however, that every Andorran structure escapes the French anti-abuse rules: see the privileged tax regime caveat below.

The OECD: removed from the list in 2009, “largely compliant” in 2019

Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco were removed in 2009 from the list of “uncooperative tax havens” that the OECD long maintained, after undertaking to apply the standards of transparency and exchange of information.

Since then, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes has assessed its members on exchange of information on request. Its November 2019 report gives Andorra’s rating:

overall rating in 2019“Largely Compliant”

Largely compliant

criteria rated compliantthe other four largely compliant

6 out of 10

previous rating, in 2014“Partially Compliant”

Partially compliant

The assessment covers both the legal framework, as it stood at 29 July 2019, and practice: the requests for information received between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2018. A new assessment may change this rating; check the Global Forum’s page for the latest position.

Automatic exchange of banking information

Since 2018, Andorran financial institutions have reported accounts held by residents of other countries to the Andorran tax authority, which passes this information on to the account holder’s country of residence, including France: this is known as automatic exchange. The milestones:

Andorra has not yet joined the OECD’s specific framework for crypto-assets (CARF); it has undertaken to do so if the OECD identifies it as a relevant jurisdiction.

Moderate taxation, not zero taxation

Not being on the lists does not make Andorra a country without taxes. Its rates are moderate:

income tax, at most

10%

corporate income tax

10%

IGI, Andorra’s VAT

4.5%

contributions on salaries

22%

On top of these, buying a property costs about 4% in property transfer tax according to practitioners, and 6 or 10% in foreign property investment tax for non-residents and new residents. On the other hand, there is neither a wealth tax nor an inheritance tax. The full overview is in our guide to taxes in Andorra and their rates.

The “privileged tax regime” caveat in French law

Not being on the ETNC list does not settle everything. French law has another concept, the “privileged tax regime”, defined in Article 238 A of the French General Tax Code: since 1 January 2020, a person is subject to one if they are not liable to tax in the State concerned, or if the tax they pay there is 40% or more lower than the tax they would have paid in France under the ordinary rules.

With corporate income tax of 10%, against a standard French rate of 25%, an Andorran company pays 60% less tax. In our analysis, Andorra therefore in principle meets this criterion for companies (indicative calculation: 25% × 60% = 15%; a tax below 15% is enough). This is not a status published by the tax authorities, but a classification assessed case by case.

It can trigger anti-abuse rules for a resident of France who holds an Andorran structure:

• stricter conditions for deducting certain payments (Article 238 A);
• taxation in France of the profits of controlled companies (Article 209 B);
• taxation in France of the income of structures held by individuals (Article 123 bis).

How should it be described accurately?

For a French national who moves there, this transparency has a simple consequence: an account in Andorra is not invisible to the French tax authorities, and French rules continue to apply as long as the tax domicile remains in France. The criteria to meet in order to change residence are set out in our guide to becoming tax resident in Andorra, and the allocation of taxing rights between the two countries in our guide to the France⁠–⁠Andorra tax treaty. For a general portrait of the country, see Andorra at a glance: population, institutions, European Union.