Brussels, 07/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Ecofin Council meeting on Tuesday 14 May is expected to confirm the agreement reached on Tuesday 7 May by EU member states' permanent representatives (on the Coreper committee) on a negotiating mandate for the European Commission for changes to tax agreements with Switzerland, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino and Andorra to bring them into line with the draft update of the EU savings tax directive in terms of automatic exchange of information about bank accounts among tax offices and recent developments at the G20 and OECD. No agreement has expected, however, on this draft directive, which will also be discussed by the Ecofin on Tuesday.
Luxembourg and Austria have thus far vetoed both the mandate and the changes to the savings tax directive because they want the same automatic exchange of bank account information and abandoning of anonymous bank accounts to be required of Switzerland. The Commission's negotiating mandate should, they say, take account of recent developments at the G20 and the OECD, where there have been demands for exchange of bank account information to be made the general rule for tax authorities. Luxembourg and Austria are calling for full transparency from Switzerland, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino and Andorra on the owners, members and end beneficiaries of trust funds, foundations and asset management companies acting as intermediaries. Luxembourg is reported to have said that the mandate must set an objective without an obligation to achieve a fixed result because rules have not yet been set by the OECD or G20.
The Ecofin Council is expected to publish a conclusions document on tackling tax evasion, a few days ahead of a special European summit on precisely this issue (on 22 May). Tackling VAT fraud was initially on the agenda of the 14 May meeting, but has now been postponed until June. (FG/transl.fl)