Brussels, 26/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The main areas covered in a report on clamping down on tax fraud and tax evasion published by the European Commission on Wednesday (as requested by the March European summit) are improving member states' tax recovery methods, boosting cooperation between national tax offices to this end, making EU rules more coherent with non-EU countries in this domain in order to promote European standards and ensure a more even global playing field.
The Commission will be publishing details of how to achieve all this at a time when European governments are particularly keen on efficient tax collection. The Commission recommends action be taken at three levels - firstly at national level to help member states get better at tax collection, possibly through technical assistance; secondly at EU level by extending cooperation among national tax offices using existing systems (like the savings tax directive) or new measures like a cross-border national insurance number, a rapid reaction mechanism for VAT fraud, EU rules and minimum penalties for tax fraud and evasion anywhere in the EU; and globally, with speedy negotiation of wider-ranging tax agreements with non-EU countries on savings tax and the like to get non-EU countries to apply rules as tight as those in place in the EU.
At the end of the year, the Commission will be publishing an action programme for clamping down on tax fraud and evasion in the short-term, along with draft legislation on tax havens (using the carrot and stick approach) and “aggressive tax planning” whereby people and companies avoid tax by making use of loopholes in the system. (FG/transl.fl)