The Netherlands wants to hold off until 2024 before implementing the second plank of the anti-tax avoidance directive (ATAD), which is expected to be the subject of an agreement at the Ecofin Council of 6 December.
Readers may recall that in October, the European Commission proposed amendments to this directive to respond to hybrid mismatch situations between a member state and a third country, having previously dealt only with situations between member states (see EUROPE 11654).
According to the directive, if a hybrid mismatch involves a third country and the payment has its source in the member state, the latter may refuse to deduct it. If the payment has its source in the third country, the member state in question must ask the taxpayer to include this payment in its tax base, unless the third country has already granted the deduction or has asked for this payment to be included. A number of specific different situations have been dealt with, for instance the situation in which a company has its tax residence in a member state or in which its tax base is in a third country.
On Tuesday 29 November, German Green MEP Sven Giegold took the matter up with the Dutch finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, at the Minister's hearing before the committee on economic and monetary affairs. He accused the Dutch politician of wanting to postpone the implementation of the provisions on hybrid mismatches in situations with third countries. The Dutch government wrote to Dutch MEPs to explain that it wants to postpone the implementation of ATAD2 until 1 January 2024. In fact, the Netherlands wants to allow the United States to change a provision of its tax legislation (the 'check the box' rule). The Greens accuse the Dutch government of lining itself up with the position of the American Chamber of Commerce, which wrote to the Dutch Secretary of State warning of the negative effects of these new amendments to the business climate in the Netherlands. "The European Commission fails to appreciate that foreign investment plays an important role in the economies of smaller member states", Wouter Paardekooper, president of AmCham in the Netherlands, went on to explain.
Minister Dijsselbloem defended himself before the committee, pointing out that other countries had also asked for more time to implement certain provisions of the directive. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)