Like we already reported last week the European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) is going to have its next meeting on December 8, 2015. The meeting seems to have a full Agenda and many items on the Agenda regard taxation.
According to the documents available on the website of the European Council/Council of the European Union the tax subjects on the Agenda include a.o.:
· Financial Transaction Tax
· Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base
· Future of the Code of Conduct (Business Taxation)
· Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
· Cross-border tax rulings
· Taxation agreements – Liechtenstein, San Marino and Switzerland
Below we will elaborate a bit on every subject. Links to relating documents we could find on the website of the European Council/Council of the European Union are in Bold and Blue.
Financial Transaction Tax
The Council will take stock of work, in the light of a note from the presidency, on a proposal aimed at introducing a financial transaction tax (FTT) in 11 member states. It is also stated that the Council may hold an exchange of views.
The 11 participants – Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain – envisage introducing an FTT in the framework of "enhanced cooperation".
Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base
The Council will take stock of work, in the light of a note from the presidency, on a proposal to establish a common system for calculating the corporate tax base in the member states. The Council is expected to hold an exchange of views.
Proposal for a Council Directive on a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) - State of play
Future of the Code of Conduct (Business Taxation)
The Council will discuss the strengthening of a code of conduct aimed at eliminating measures that can create situations of unfair tax competition. It will be called on to adopt conclusions.
The background document that is published with respect to the meeting states that it is expected that work on strengthening the code will be finalised during the first half of 2016.
Links to documents which seem to relate to this Agenda item are not accessible.
Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
The Council will discuss the prevention of tax base erosion and profit shifting, as part of moves to clamp down on tax avoidance by multinational companies. It will be called on to adopt conclusions.
In this respect the background document to the meeting a.o. states:
“In June 2015, the European Commission announced it would make proposals to incorporate the outcome of OECD work into EU legislation. Within the Council, recent presidencies have developed an EU-BEPS work programme. However it remains to be determined which elements should be covered by EU legislation, which could be taken up via a non-legislative process (by the code of conduct group: see previous item), and which should be left to the discretion of member states.
The draft conclusions support an effective, swift and coordinated implementation by member states of measures to be adopted at EU level. They identify EU directives as the preferred vehicle for implementing the OECD conclusions, giving priority to legislation over possible ‘soft-law’, i.e. nonlegislative, solutions.”
Links to documents which seem to relate to this Agenda item are not accessible.
Cross-border tax rulings
According to the background document the Council is expected to adopt, without discussion, an amendment to a directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation concerning the exchange of information on advance tax rulings.
Taxation agreements – Liechtenstein, San Marino and Switzerland
The Council is expected to approve, without discussion, three agreements that will allow tax administrations improved cross-border access to information on private savers.
It will approve:
· the conclusion of an agreement with Liechtenstein;
· the conclusion of an agreement with Switzerland;
· the signature of an agreement with San Marino.
All three agreements relate to the automatic exchange of financial account information. They have been negotiated in parallel to efforts to improve international tax compliance, and thereby to prevent tax fraud and tax evasion. They upgrade agreements from 2004 that ensured that the three countries applied measures equivalent to an EU directive on the taxation of savings income. That directive (2003/48/EC) has since been repealed to eliminate an overlap with directive 2014/107/EU, which includes strengthened provisions to prevent tax evasion.
The agreement with Switzerland was signed in May 2015, and the agreement with Liechtenstein in October 2015.
With respect to San Marino
- COUNCIL DECISION on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Amending Protocol to the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of San Marino providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments
- COUNCIL DECISION on the signing, on behalf of the Union, and provisional application of the Amending Protocol to the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of San Marino providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments
- Amending Protocol to the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of San Marino providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments
Click here to be forwarded to the background document as available on the website of the European Council/Council of the European Union, which will open in a new window.
Click here to be forwarded to the provisional agenda of the meeting as available on the website of the European Council/Council of the European Union, which will open in a new window.
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