Brussels, 23/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - The EU Tax Commissioner Algirdas Semeta announced on 23 April that the European Commission is to set up a good tax governance platform to monitor member states' progress in properly tackling tax evasion, corporate tax avoidance and tax havens and to ring the alarm bell where necessary if countries relax their efforts in this area. The group of 45 experts will include a high-ranking tax official from each of the member states and up to 15 representatives of non-governmental bodies (companies, the European Parliament, academia, NGOs, etc.) appointed by the Commission for three years on a renewable basis. A call for tender will be published on Tuesday. The group is designed as a forum for debate and exchange of best practice and peer pressure to encourage the member states to take more effective action against tax evasion as set out in a European Commission action plan unveiled in December 2012 (see EUROPE 10746). It will help the Commission draw up any measures needed at EU level.
The Commissioner said that the Commission wants to introduce good governance measures across the EU to put pressure on the EU's international partners to get them to introduce tough measures. He was delighted with recent progress in the EU (with Luxembourg) and at the G20 in particular to arrange automatic exchange of information about bank accounts between tax authorities (see EUROPE 10822 and 10832) and says the Commission will work in tandem with the OECD to ensure this becomes standard practice around the globe, hopefully with pledges being made to this effect at the G8 Summit in June and the G20 Summit in September.
Algirdas Semeta said that the Commission wants an ambitious agreement on the sharing of bank information with Switzerland, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino. He said Switzerland now says it is prepared to hold talks as long as exchange of information becomes an international rule. The Commission will need a negotiating mandate for such talks, but the Council of Ministers has thus far refused to grant one. It is possible that the Ecofin Council of 14 May will grant a mandate if Austria, which still opposes such a deal, changes its mind (after Luxembourg's position shift, it is possible that Austria's official stance on the automatic exchange of bank account information and the lifting of secret bank accounts in Austria will change at the 14 May Ecofin or the 24 May European summit). (FG/transl.fl)