Brussels, 25/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - To take advantage of the current favourable climate after recent progress at the G20 on tax governance in taking decisive and tangible steps in the fight against fraud and tax evasion, tax havens and money laundering at forthcoming European and international meetings - this is the objective proposed by the Irish Presidency of the European Council of Minsters, British Prime Minister David Cameron and the French and German finance ministers. They set out this objective in letters sent on 24 April to their counterparts and to the European Commission. It is also the objective of the European Parliament, in a draft resolution passed in committee by a very large majority the same day.
David Cameron thus calls on his counterparts at the next European Council on 22 May and at the G8 summit on 17-18 June to take action in four areas: (1) to take advantage of the American FATCA legislation to make the automatic exchange of information (AIE) between tax administrations the international standard in order to fight tax evasion efficiently at global level. The United Kingdom, which together with France, Germany, Italy and Spain supports an agreement with the USA along these lines, is taking domestic action in progressively generalising this practice to British Crown dependencies in Europe (Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey) and overseas (for example, the Virgin Islands), where there are many offshore banks. The UK wants other member states to follow the example of the five above-mentioned countries and that, at the European Council, the EU can express strong support for generalisation of the AIE (after Luxembourg's change of position, it is only Austria that still refuses to conform with this standard); (2) to break the secrecy on the real owners and beneficiaries of entities (for example, trusts and foundations) that deal with the profits of businesses that avoid tax. On this, Cameron is calling for the existing criteria on effective ownership transparency to be fully implemented and for negotiations to be swiftly concluded on the fourth EU directive against money laundering. The French and German finance ministers too, in their letter to the Commission, call for the European regulation against money laundering and illegal money flows to be strengthened by swiftly adopting the fourth directive. They propose that the Commission develop the fight at European level against uncooperative jurisdictions (which do not conform to the OECD rules) and that the Commission develop measures to tackle these jurisdictions, including by providing for sanctions against European banks which operate there; (3) to reform the global tax rules by aligning them with the standards developed at the G20 and at the OECD or going beyond them where it is possible (for example, by encouraging multinational businesses to voluntarily establish reports country by country on the taxation that they pay in the countries where they operate); (4) to improve the ability of developing countries to collect taxes that are due to them, especially by the multinationals operating on their territory.
Many of these issues are also mentioned in the letter of the Irish Presidency, which proposes seven areas in which the EU can take immediate action by adopting acts that are practically ready to be finalised (Ed.: the Presidency prefers this pragmatic strategy to the one which would consist of setting a number of objectives that are too big to be achieved in the short term). With regard to the automatic exchange of tax information, therefore, the initiative of the five countries (see above) could - in the Presidency's opinion - be extended to European level, given the resolve of other member states (recently Poland) to go along with it. By contrast, in its agreements with third countries, the EU must target the automatic exchange of information on the widest possible range of incomes. In tangible terms, agreements in this area could be found in the short term on: - the proposal for a revised directive on savings tax; - the mandate to the Commission to start negotiations with five third countries (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Andorra), so as to align tax agreements with these countries (which would involve the automatic exchange of information); - extending the AEI to a wide spectrum of revenues, taking account of new products that have appeared on the market. The FATCA legislation covers a very wide range of income and could constitute a basis for enlarging European legislation too, if account is especially taken of the fact that the information provided to the American administration by the member states cannot be refused to partners, due to the directive on administrative cooperation. Among the other measures practically ready to be adopted, the Irish Presidency points also to: - the agreement on the package against VAT fraud (the problem areas concern the adoption of the rule on reversing the burden of proof - to which five member states are opposed); - the agreement on the Council conclusions on the level of action of the Commission for fighting fraud, evasion and tax planning, including the agreement for coordination, by the EU at the G20 and at the OECD, of work on tax erosion and the transfer of profits; - the adoption of the Fiscalis programme.
These proposals feature among the 30 proposals contained in the report by Mojca Kleva Kekus (S&D, Slovenia), adopted by the European Parliament's ECON committee, and which especially advocates a common definition of tax havens for the whole EU, the creation of a black list of these jurisdictions, and sanctions for the institutions or individuals having business relations with them. EUROPE will return to this. (FR/transl.fl)