Brussels, 01/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission proposal to introduce automatic exchange of information for tax rulings was given a mixed response by member states at the EU Council of Ministers at the end of March in an initial debate among national experts (see EUROPE 11274).
The countries backed the directive's objectives but found the devil lurking in the details.
Several sources say that concerns were raised about the directive's scope, which some countries (particularly the large member states) consider too broad. The Commission wants exchange of information on all cross-border tax rulings and gave the widest possible definition for the term “tax ruling” in order to avoid leaving loopholes for similar schemes. The way the exchange would take place has also been questioned, with some countries unhappy at having to exchange all cross-border tax rulings with their partners even if the content of such rulings is not relevant to the partners. The administrative burden that this would generate was therefore highlighted. Most countries, however, expressed concern about the measure whereby the European Commission would also receive a copy of the exchanged information, because the countries say that they alone are responsible for tax issues. The Commission is planning to stick firmly to this aspect of its proposal. Finally, a number of countries also said that they will not be able to apply the proposals from 1 January 2016. The Latvian Presidency of the Council simply noted that this was simply an initial exchange of views among the delegations.
France and Germany called on Tuesday 31 March for a country-by-country breakdown of payments dealings with tax offices. Various associations and groups at the European Parliament want all the submitted information to be published (see EUROPE 11285). The Commission has not yet taken a decision on the matter. (Elodie Lamer)