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VAT in the digital age
Value added tax (VAT) is one of the key revenue raisers in national budgets, accounting on average for almost a fifth of all tax revenue collected in the EU; and yet, sizeable amounts of VAT revenue are lost to fraud. Moreover, VAT rules place a considerable administrative burden on businesses. On 8 December 2022, to help fight VAT fraud and reduce this burden, the European Commission tabled a three-part proposal for a directive on VAT in the digital age. The proposal has three main objectives. The ...
'Unshell': Rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes
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 purposes. 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 ...
Tax transparency rules for crypto-asset transactions (DAC8)
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 that would require crypto-asset service providers to report transactions made by EU ...
Unshell – Rules to prevent misuse of shell entities for tax purposes
Shell companies – or 'shells' – are entities that have no or minimal economic activity. While they can sometimes serve useful commercial functions, they can also be abused for the purposes of aggressive tax planning or tax evasion. The Commission's 'Unshell' proposal is designed to prevent EU shell companies from benefiting from tax advantages. Parliament will discuss and vote on a report on the subject during its January I 2023 plenary.
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 ...
Disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches
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 ...
Reforming EU policy on harmful tax practices
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 ...
Economic Dialogue with Cyprus - ECON on 3 June 2021
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.
Harmful tax practices within the EU: definition, identification and recommendations
The purpose of the present study is to provide a tool for understanding the phenomenon of harmful tax competition within the EU, as well as making an in-depth assessment and proposing solutions. It contains policy recommendations for future EU standards. This document was provided by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies at the request of the subcommittee on Tax Matters (FISC).
Advances in administrative cooperation in the field of taxation
The digitalisation of the economy opens the door to new cross-border economic activities that makes it possible to under-report income and under-pay tax. It also presents new challenges for tax administrations, already faced with limited access to information at the national level. Hence, in July 2020 the Commission proposed to amend the provisions on information exchange and administrative cooperation and to include the automatic exchange of data on information declared by digital platform operators ...