The Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council has sought to make progress on several tax issues during its term. This effort is detailed in the traditional progress report on taxation, which should be formally adopted by the Ecofin Council on 18 June and then forwarded to the European Council at its meeting on 24 and 25 June.
“In spite of the hindrances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the work during the Portuguese Presidency continued on a number of key files, with the aim of addressing challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy, the future of VAT rates, and updates to the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes”, it reads.
According to the report, Member States had an exchange of views in a working group on 1 June on the recent Commission Communication on “Business Taxation for the 21st Century” (see EUROPE 12721/3).
The proposal to transform the VAT committee into a comitology committee (see EUROPE 12627/14) was also discussed under the Portuguese Presidency, but many delegations seem to have reservations, particularly with regard to the transfer of powers from the EU Council to the European Commission and the move to qualified majority voting.
The report also recalls the Presidency’s attempt to advance discussions on the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) last February (see EUROPE 12658/1).
In a second draft report, the EU Council’s Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation also gives more details on the state of play of the discussions on the revision of the scope of its mandate (see EUROPE 12528/2).
A revised draft text was discussed on 11 May. The group agreed to continue the analysis and discussion in the “coming months”, the document says. In a separate set of draft conclusions, the EU Council particularly welcomes the progress made on this issue.
For the Ecofin Council report: https://bit.ly/3cvLTyF; the Code of Conduct Group report: https://bit.ly/3w6IbmP; and the conclusions: https://bit.ly/34ZE6VH (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)