Luxembourg, 14/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - Luxembourg caused no inconsiderable surprise on Tuesday 14 October, when it withdrew its request for an extra year, until 2018 instead of 2017, to apply the automatic exchange of information (AEI) under the revised directive on administrative cooperation, which aims to transpose the global OECD standards in this area into EU legislation. For its part, Austria upholds its own request “on technical grounds”, but has pledged to do all in its power to be in a position to apply the standard before 2018, if technically feasible. This allowed the Twenty-Eight to mark a political agreement in principle on the revised directive on administrative cooperation (2011/16/EU).
European Commissioner for Taxation Algirdas Semeta explained that the grace period granted to Vienna implied that the provisions of the revised directive on tax on savings, which extends the scope of the AEI to intermediate structures such as trusts, foundations and other financial vehicles, would be applicable in Austria during this period. At the Ecofin Council, Austria explained that although the ministers were calling on it to request an earlier timetable than that of the G20, it would not be able to give its agreement to the directive this 14 October, invoking a need to consult government and industry.
The Luxembourg minister, Pierre Gramegna, stressed the need to have in place a single standard on the AEI. The Council therefore calls on the Commission to present a proposal to repeal the 'tax on savings' directive in order to avoid duplication. In this scenario, it will probably be necessary to transfer the provisions on trusts to the administrative cooperation directive. In answer to the Luxembourger, who expressed concerns that the banks will not have time to prepare, Semeta explained that the states were free to adopt the directive before 1 January 2016, so that the collection of data will start on that date and the first exchange take place in September 2017.
“The EU member states are making substantial progress towards the fight against tax evasion and transparency”, said Pier Carlo Padoan, on behalf of the Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Semeta echoed his words, although he told the Ecofin meeting that the best solution would be to make progress together on this front. At the press conference, Semeta also welcomed Switzerland's commitment to the AEI, the country having announced last week that it would apply it from 2018.
The European Banking Federation fails to share the enthusiasm of the Twenty-Eight. The EBF argues that there is a need for closer scrutiny of the potential impact of this standard on the legal, constitutional and data protection aspects. (EL)