On July 6, 2017 the European Parliament issued a press release announcing that the Members of the European Parliament approved the recommendations made in the Report on tax rulings and other measures similar in nature or effect as prepared by the co-rapporteurs Jeppe Kofod and Michael Theurer on behalf of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (TAXE 2).
According to the press release the recommendations were approved with by 514 votes to 68, with 125 abstentions.
Recommendation made in the report include a.o.:
· Urges the Commission to come forward with a proposal for a common corporate consolidated tax base (CCCTB) before the end of 2016, to be accompanied by an appropriate and fair distribution key which would provide a comprehensive solution for dealing with harmful tax practices within the Union;
· Calls on the Commission to come up as soon as possible with a common Union definition and list of uncooperative jurisdictions (i.e. a 'blacklist of tax havens');
· Calls for a concrete Union regulatory framework for sanctions against the blacklisted uncooperative jurisdictions, including the possibility of reviewing and, in the last resort, suspending free trade agreements, suspending double taxation agreements and prohibiting access to Union funds; notes that the purpose of sanctions is to bring about changes in the legislation of the jurisdictions concerned; calls for sanctions also to apply to companies, banks, and accountancy and law firms and to tax advisers proven to be involved in illegal, harmful or wrongful activities with those jurisdictions or proven to have facilitated illegal, harmful or wrongful corporate tax arrangements involving legal vehicles in those jurisdictions;
· Strongly emphasizes that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing the dimension of tax evasion and tax avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened in the EU;
· Calls on the Commission to present a legislative proposal for an EU-wide withholding tax, to be operated by the Member States, in order to ensure that profits generated within the Union are taxed at least once before leaving it;
· Calls on the Commission, in order to prohibit the misuse of patent boxes for tax avoidance purposes and ensure that if and when used they are linked to genuine economic activity, to put forward proposals for binding Union legislation on patent boxes;
· Calls for the existing codes of conduct for the tax advice industry to be strengthened;
Click here to be forwarded to the report as prepared by the co-rapporteurs Jeppe Kofod and Michael Theurer on behalf of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (TAXE 2).
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