Fittex

The crypto-asset sector, while still relatively new, has already changed the world of payments and investment forever. The fast-changing, mobile nature of the sector and its growing market prominence poses challenges, however, for tax authorities, which are not always able to track the capital gains made from trading crypto-assets. On 8 December 2022, the European Commission proposed to set up a reporting framework which would require crypto-asset service providers to report transactions made by ...

While shell companies – company entities that have no or minimal economic activity – can serve useful commercial and business functions, they are sometimes abused by companies or individuals for aggressive tax planning or tax evasion. To ensure sustainable public finances under the exceptional circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, in December 2021 the European Commission presented a directive on preventing shell companies from misusing their structure for tax purposes ('Unshell'). The proposal ...

A quarter of all tax revenue in the EU is collected in Germany alone. Given the country's weight in the EU economy, the German tax system plays a key role in facilitating cross-border trade and company growth in the EU, and in strengthening the EU-wide fight against abusive tax practices. However, the publication of the 'cum ex files' in 2018 revealed that Germany had lost billions in tax revenue because of aggressive dividend arbitrage practices.

As Ireland has a high number of (foreign-owned) multinationals, which employ a large share of the Irish workforce, the country's corporate tax system plays a key role in the economy. However, Ireland has been criticised for the way in which its tax system has been used by multinationals to set up aggressive tax planning structures and exploit mismatches and gaps in the international tax framework. In response, Ireland has taken a series of anti-tax avoidance measures at national, EU and OECD level ...

This study aims to provide an overview of the recently implemented anti-tax avoidance and evasion measures, notably the ATAD and DAC 6. It reviews the implementation of these directives across different Member States and assesses the problems that arise with regard to the interpretation of some of the directives’ provisions. This document was provided by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies at the request of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Subcommittee on ...

Two European Added Value Assessments (EAVAs) studies on Value Added Tax (VAT) and Corporate Income Tax (CIT) for the European Parliament's subcommittee on Tax Matters (FISC), identified the gaps in EU legislation in these areas and evaluated the European added value of various policy options to address these gaps.

Tax transparency has become an important tool in the fight against tax avoidance and tax evasion. Country-by-country reporting (CBCR) aims at requiring multinational enterprises (MNEs) to provide sufficient data to be able to distinguish what part of their activity is related to a specific country. The European Commission's proposed directive on CBCR was first tabled in 2016. Interinstitutional negotiations led to a provisional agreement in June 2021. The European Parliament is expected to vote on ...

This paper outlines how 2019 and 2020 Country Specific Recommendations covering the fight against corruption, aggressive tax planning, tax evasion or tax avoidance or ineffective anti-money laundering measures are being addressed in national Recovery and Resilience Plans, based on Commission’s assessments. The paper will be updated once new relevant information is available.

The EU policy reform on harmful tax practices (HTP) has been pushed up the agenda for several reasons: the significant loss of revenue due to tax evasion and tax avoidance while Member States are addressing the huge economic impacts of the pandemic, public and parliamentary pressure, and several high-profile revelations of questionable tax-related practices. An own-initiative procedure was launched in autumn 2020 by the Subcommittee on Tax Matters (FISC), and a vote on the report of the Economic ...

This note presents selected information on the current status of the EU economic governance procedures and related relevant information in view of an Economic Dialogue with Constantinos Petrides, Cyprus Finance Minister, in the ECON committee of the European Parliament. The invitation for a dialogue is in accordance with the EU economic governance framework. The last exchange of views with the Cypriot authorities took place on 25 January 2016.