German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz called on his colleagues on Wednesday 4 November to quickly reach an agreement in the EU Council on the proposal (DAC 7) to amend the EU Council Directive (2011/16/EU) on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC) to extend the automatic exchange of information to digital platforms such as Uber and Airbnb (see EUROPE 12528/3).
“This dossier is a clear case where we can make a major step forward and strengthen the path toward the objective that all should pay their fair share of taxes”, he said, recalling that this was one of the main legislative priorities of the German EU Council Presidency.
The Commission proposal provides for an obligation for digital platforms to transmit once a year to the tax authorities all revenues generated by vendors or service providers using their platform.
Before the proposal was formally presented, the EU Council had already set out its expectations in conclusions (see EUROPE 12498/34) adopted in July. The text rightly stressed the need to take into account the fiscal challenges arising from digital platforms.
“At this stage, the EU Council experts are working very hard and the negotiations are progressing well even if some open issues remain to be solved”, Mr Scholz said, hoping that the final points can be resolved by the next Ecofin Council meeting on 1 December at the latest.
Reacting to the German Minister’s comments in public session, Poland, in particular, expressed its concerns about the possible negative effects of such a “broad” scope of the proposal.
“Taking into considerations ongoing digitization of the EU economy, we should take into account possible effect of DAC 7 on the digital single market”, said the Polish Minister, who also believes that discussions should continue on the tools for effective enforcement.
For his part, European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, reminded Member States that it was crucial that the DAC 7 proposal sets a “robust and substantive standard applicable to all platforms active in the EU irrespective of where they are established inside or outside the EU internal market”. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)