Brussels, 12/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - As part of the European Union's clampdown on tax evasion, EU Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta unveiled new legislation on Wednesday 12 June, ahead of the G8 summit, to update the directive on administrative cooperation on tax issues to expand the automatic exchange of bank information system, AEI, to five new types of income received by people with passports of an EU member state in another member state. The current categories are dividends, capital gains, all forms of financial income and balances on bank account (see EUROPE 10864). On 1 January 2015, AEI will also apply to five new categories, professional income, directors' fees, life insurance policies, pensions and revenue from property, which the directive currently only covers when such information is “available.” The most favoured nation clause in the directive means that member states must provide the same information to other member states that they currently provide to the US administration under the FATCA rules. The automatic exchange of information about savings tax will come into force when the updated savings tax directive, that all member states have promised to sign by the end of the year, comes on stream.
The commissioner said that, together, the two directives would give the EU the most exhaustive tax information system in the world and enable it to demand similar measures from its international partners at the G8 meeting next week, for example. He said the EU would push for automatic exchange of information to become the global norm: “With today's proposal, member states will be better equipped to assess and collect the taxes they are due, while the EU will be well positioned to push for higher standards of tax good governance globally. It will be another powerful weapon in our arsenal to lead a strong attack against tax evasion”. Under the proposal, the conditions for AEI will be made uniform in order to avoid court cases in the future arising from differing bilateral and international deals. It mainly covers individuals' income, but also covers trust funds and the like. Semeta said that AEI will be further improved in the future when amendments to the savings tax directive introduce the notion of “end beneficiary” to clamp down on tax avoidance through the use of intermediary structures. The Commission is also planning to introduce a directive to boost corporate transparency on tax matters. (FG/transl.fl)