Brussels, 04/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Greens/EFA group at the European Parliament does not intend to wait for the initiatives of the European Commission to call for more transparency from large companies quoted on the stock exchange, particularly on tax rulings, following the LuxLeaks scandal. Via the directive on shareholders' rights, it hopes to amend the directives on accounting standards and transparency.
In amendments tabled by the group this Thursday, it wishes firstly to include country-by-country reporting obligations in these, including for subsidiaries of companies established in third countries, as is already the case for banks under CRDIV. In addition to the data to be published in annual reports (name, number of employees, profit, tax paid, public subsidies received, et cetera), it also wishes to force companies to publish tax rulings.
In so doing, the Greens/EFA group has stolen a march on the Commission. The Commissioner for Taxation, Pierre Moscovici, said on Tuesday in an interview with L'Expansion that transparency has to be “total, on the part of the tax administrations, but also on the part of businesses and tax consultants”. An initial transparency package will be put to the College for a guideline debate on 18 February. In March, the Commission is to propose amendments to the directive on administrative cooperation to make the exchange of information on tax rulings automatic. (EL)