Brussels, 14/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - Firm commitment to fight more effectively against tax evasion and organise the automatic exchange of bank information within the EU and with countries with which the EU has signed savings tax deals - this was what was hoped from the Economy and Finance Council in Brussels on Tuesday 14 March, a week ahead of the summit of EU heads of state on the same subject matter (on 22 May). The president of the European Council, Hermann Van Rompuy, joined the ministers for breakfast and urged them to prepare for the summit on a number of issues so that decisions are taken at ECOFIN ahead of the summit.
The ministers did not, however, manage to achieve all that was hoped, due to opposition from Luxembourg and Austria, and were unable to reach agreement in principle on changes to the savings tax directive and the automatic exchange of bank information and on interest paid to people living in other EU member states. It is hoped to expand the automatic exchange of information from bank accounts to all other forms of saving (unit trusts, life insurance and the like) and trust funds and foundations located outside the EU, along with intermediary bodies that receive interest payments on behalf of people living in the EU. The ministers agreed on a negotiating mandate for the European Commission to negotiate changes in tax agreements signed in 2004 with Switzerland, Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein and San Marino to bring them into line with the revised savings tax directive.
Luxembourg and Austria, which had in the pact vetoed agreement on both the negotiating mandate and changes to the savings tax directive, say they were able to go along with the negotiating mandate as long as it is based on the changed savings tax directive and makes explicit reference to the fact that the five non-EU countries must agree to the automatic exchange of information that will be introduced across by the EU by the new savings directive. Luxembourg and Austria will not agree to the changed savings tax directive itself, however, until negotiations with the five non-EU countries are complete or they have at least agreed to accept the measures set out in the new directive. The two finance ministers said they agreed with the spread of automatic exchange of bank information by the OECD and the G20 so that the same rules apply to all, and they welcomed the pilot measure by France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom to introduce a European FATCA. Discussion about the savings tax directive will resume at the summit and possibly at future Council meetings too.
The ECOFIN Council published a conclusions document approving the European Commission's action plan of 34 measures to clamp down on tax evasion and the Commission's two recommendations on dealing with tax havens and aggressive corporate tax planning to reduce their tax bill. Without debate, the ministers adopted the Fiscalis 2020 programme which, from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020, will have a budget of €234.3 million and be used to encourage cooperation among participating member states' tax authorities through the exchange of information and boosting of computer system capacity. (F.G./transl.fl)