Brussels, 13/04/2015 (Agence Europe) -Taxation Commissioner Pierre Moscovici admits that the devil is in the detail of the legislative proposals for automatic exchange of information among countries about their tax rulings.
At the first Council working group meeting a fortnight ago, the member states issued reservations about most of the measures (see EUROPE 11287), but agreed with the aims. On French radio on Sunday (Carrefour de l'Europe), Moscovici said that a few areas of reluctance had been identified but he had laid down two red lines, namely retroactivity for the exchange of information and the Commission's role.
In the draft directive, the Commission is the focus of the exchange of information about tax rulings and the Commissioner explained that countries might be tempted to say that they'll arrange the exchange of information themselves. He said the Commission had to regulate the system and needed to have tools for checking whether the exchange had taken place (which needs to be done quarterly) and if not, to take appropriate measures.
The Commissioner firmly supports the draft legislation's retroactivity, which would require countries to provide details of tax rulings granted over the past decade that are still in force today. The Commissioner said he was not very concerned and if somebody wanted to oppose it, the media would want to know why and would ask the countries involved for explanations and the Commission itself would name and shame them. He said his personal view was that transparency had to be total. The Commission is currently examining the requirements that might be introduced to this effect for companies without damaging their competitiveness. This is not a “stupid” concern, said Moscovici, without elaborating any further. (Elodie Lamer)