Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man were among a number of offshore jurisdictions on a withdrawn US “blacklist".

In previous versions of the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, a package of anti-tax evasion measures which Senator Carl Levin has been trying to have passed for a number of years, Britain's three crown dependencies were included on a list of 34 “secrecy jurisdictions” which were described as "probable locations for US tax evasion".

This entire list was absent however from Mr Levin's most recent version of the bill, which was introduced into Congress last week.

Mr Levin said that the new bill, instead of recommending that the US treasury automatically impose stiffer requirements on those who used offshore jurisdictions, would "build on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of 2010, by creating tougher disclosure, evidentiary, and enforcement consequences for US persons who do business with foreign financial institutions that reject FATCA’s call for disclosing accounts used by US persons".

"By focusing on non-FATCA financial institutions instead of offshore secrecy jurisdictions, the bill relieves the treasury of a difficult task, while providing additional incentives for foreign banks to adopt FATCA’s disclosure requirements," he explained.

Authorities on the three islands, who have worked hard to convince Washington of the transparency of their financial services over the past few years, announced themselves “delighted” with the news.

The chief minister of Guernsey, Lyndon Trott, spent several days in the US last week, where he discussed the issue with Senator Levin’s chief investigator and counsel Bob Roach.

“I was delighted to be advised that Guernsey would no longer be unfairly blacklisted in the Senator’s legislation. Our continued dialogue with Senator Levin was instrumental in changing the legislation and I thank the Senator and his team for listening to the facts about Guernsey,” he said.

Jersey's treasury minister Senator Philip Ozouf said that he was pleased “to see that we have been listened to, along with other jurisdictions that were also on the list who have made similar representations to Washington, and that there is now greater understanding of our position as an open and transparent regime”.

The Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act contains a variety of measures to tackle offshore tax evasion, which it says denies the US treasury over $100 billion (£62 billion) per year.

Key suggestions include stopping companies whose management is centred domestically from claiming status as foreign corporations, authorising the treasury to take more action against foreign jurisdictions that obstruct US tax enforcement, and strengthening the penalties for tax evasion.

Mr Levin, who has now tried to introduce legislation against tax abuses in no less than five Congresses, hopes that the act could assuage the US's deficit problem.

This article has been prepared by specialists of ABLV Corporate Services based on mass media publications. Specialists of ABLV Corporate Services provide legal and tax advise, including advise on international tax planning, establishment of holdings, trade, investment, and protection structures, purchase of real estate and other assets, as well as advise on change of residence and acquirement of residence permits. More detailed information on services provided by ABLV Corporate Services can be found at http://www.ablv.com/ru/services/advisory