Brussels, 21/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - The organisation Transparency International regrets the fact that, in the framework of the debate on tax avoidance in Europe initiated by the LuxLeaks revelations, the indignation has focused on the tax rulings granted by the tax authorities of member states, whilst little attention has been paid to the obligations on all multinationals.
“Transparency International has been calling for corporate reporting legislation that would make it mandatory for multinational companies to report key financial information in every country where they operate”, the NGO states in a press release published on Tuesday 20 January. That information would include the “whopping turnovers and minimal tax recorded by Amazon in Luxembourg, which would have raised a huge red flag long before LuxLeaks came anywhere near a newspaper”. This measure, Transparency International goes on to explain, was agreed in May 2013 by the heads of state and government at the European summit on tax avoidance and tax evasion, but has remained at stalemate since then (see EUROPE 10850).
Only the banking sector cannot get round it and will publish this information from 2015 (see EUROPE 11188). Moreover, a report published by TI shows that civil society, auditors, investors and regulators agree on the merits of extending this kind of reporting to all corporate sectors.
The call is specifically aimed at the committee on economic affairs of the European Parliament, which is soon to discuss amendments to the directive on shareholders' rights, “which proposes a full country-by-country reporting regime”. (EL)