On Thursday 8 February, the conference of the presidents of the political groups of the European Parliament approved the draft mandate negotiated between the MEPs for a special TAXE 3 committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance.
One of the aims of this committee will to be assess how the European VAT rules were circumnavigated in the framework of the 'Paradise Papers' scandal, to “evaluate more in general the impact of VAT fraud and administrative cooperation rules in the EU (…), to analyse the exchange of information and coordination policies between the member states and Eurofisc”.
The MEPs' work will also cover tax evasion and avoidance, in line with the digital economy. The MEPs also hope to evaluate national regimes offering tax privileges to new residents and income from abroad, as well as citizenship questions, in other words a reference to the 'Golden Visas' system in force in several countries, such as Malta.
Finally, the TAXE 3 committee will look at third countries in the context of financial crimes and tax evasion and avoidance, paying particular attention to dependencies (of the British Crown, for instance), but also to overseas territories (Aruba and Curaçao for the Netherlands, in particular).
Finally, the MEPs will discuss the methodology, examination and impact of the European blacklist of non-cooperative jurisdictions in taxation matters, and the withdrawal of countries from this list and sanctions adopted.
The special committee's mandate will probably be voted on at a mini-plenary session on 1 March and its composition at the March plenary, with the hope of holding an inaugural meeting the same week. At the Parliament, there is currently silence over the names of potential chairs and rapporteurs of this future committee. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)