Brussels, 08/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Ecofin Council and European summit on 14 and 22 May will focus on fighting tax evasion and the European Commission's measures to flesh out this policy.
In a letter sent on Wednesday 8 May to EU heads of state (and in a memorandum attached to it), the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, explained the basic approach and urged leaders to put the draft measures to be discussed by the Council into practice, measures like the revised savings tax directive, introducing the Commission's action plan on stepping up the fight against tax evasion and the two recommendations, one on tax havens and one on corporate tax avoidance. Commenting on the recent G20 recommendations on spreading the automatic exchange of bank account information (EAI), Barroso said EAI had to spread to all types of income. He said the Commission will be unveiling legislation to this effect over the next few months (see EUROPE 10841) and urged heads of state to decide on a coordinated EU position to convince the EU's partners at the G8, G20 and OECD to make EAI the new reference standard around the world.
Finance ministers will also discuss these matters with the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, who will attend a working breakfast ahead of the Ecofin Council on 14 May. In a draft conclusions document on clamping down on tax evasion, they call on the EU to work with the G20 and OECD to draw up international standards to prevent erosion of the tax base and tighten up on legislation to prevent companies transferring profits abroad to wriggle out of tax; recognise the utility of the Commission's above-mentioned action plan and two recommendations, pointing out that they are non-binding and it is important to respect subsidiarity. They point out that the Council is working on measures to stamp out tax evasion and that the member states are putting into practice EU directives on tax office cooperation to recover unpaid tax, duty and other sums owing; they urge the group of experts on the company tax code of conduct to find solutions to the problems arising from erroneous treatment of hybrid bodies in the light of work to this effect in international organisations; they call for acceptable solutions for all member states for tackling VAT fraud. On preventing aggressive tax planning and abuse of tax arrangements, they call on member states to include a general rule against tax avoidance in their legal systems; to avoid double non-taxation when signing double taxation agreement. For good tax governance with non-EU countries, they say they want to promote transparency, exchange of information internationally and respect of these rules by non-EU countries. With this in mind, they call for the option to be looked into of drawing up an EU black list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. Finally, the ministers urge the member states and Commission to work with the OECD and the global forum on transparency and exchange of tax information to prepare action plans to fight lack of transparency and abusive tax practices in non-EU countries. For the remaining points on the agenda, see EUROPE 10482. (FG/transl.fl)