Brussels, 02/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has asked the Council of the EU to wait for its opinion before reaching agreement on amendments to the directive on administrative cooperation bringing in country-by-country reporting to the tax authorities of the EU and the exchange of information between these authorities.
Emmanuel Maurel, shadow rapporteur for the S&D on this dossier, explained to EUROPE that he was aware of the risk “of a whirlwind agreement at the Council”, as was the case for previous amendments to the same directive. During negotiations on the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings, the Council stole a march on the Parliament and the EP's opinion was not returned until after the agreement between member states had been reached. The states “know very well that the longer they take over the dialogue and, if they have to agree with the European Parliament afterwards, as logic demands, the greater the pressure will be on them”, Maurel added. He went on to say that he supported the initiative of the rapporteur on this dossier, Dariusz Rosati (EPP, Poland), who has written to the Council asking the member states to wait for the Parliament's opinion. The agenda of the meeting of the permanent representatives of the member states to the EU provided for a political agreement on this dossier for 3 March.
In his draft report, Rosati welcomes the Commission's proposal on the table, but states that it might be better to extend the exchange of information between tax authorities to cover the European Commission as well, “in order to ensure that the member states are complying with the State aid rules” on the basis of the information exchanged.
Emmanuel Maurel feels that the outlines should also be shifted outwards. With the scope of application decided upon (groups with a consolidated turnover of €750 million or more), just 10% to 15% of multinationals will be covered. “€40 million seems to me a logical threshold, it's the same threshold as for the 'accountancy' directive to define large businesses, and it's also the threshold we find in the only country-by-country reporting currently in place in the Union: that of the banks, with the 'CRD IV' directive”, he explained. The threshold is probably one of the points on which the Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups are going to want amendments. The threshold of €750 million is the threshold provided for by the OECD in its BEPS action plan to fight base erosion and profit shifting. In his draft report, Rosati did not modify the threshold.
Lastly, Maurel stressed the vital importance of ensuring that the exchange of information is carried out between all states “and not just the ones where there is a 'permanent establishment' of the multinational in question. In the absence of a European definition of permanent establishment, this will be a blind spot that the multinationals will exploit”. Although the Greens/EFA may table amendments for this exchange to be made public, Maurel argued that the directive on administrative cooperation is not the right instrument for this to happen. On this point, a Commission proposal is anticipated for 12 April. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)