On Wednesday 13 November, EU Member States discussed the directive on transfer pricing in the EU Council working group on direct taxation.
Presented in September 2023 by the European Commission (see EUROPE 13248/20), this directive aims to reduce transfer pricing disputes, thereby avoiding double taxation and double non-taxation. This text, which has been blocked ever since, is struggling to make progress. According to a European source contacted by Agence Europe, the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council has circulated a note to ascertain the intentions of the Member States. “Some Member States are keen on this text, others are not”, explained the source. It is therefore impossible to make further progress without a clear approach.
The working group also discussed the establishment of an ‘EU transfer pricing platform’, as outlined in the June Ecofin report on tax issues to the European Council (see EUROPE 13336/15). This platform would be a non-binding forum for cooperation, incorporating certain elements of the directive. This idea hasn’t really progressed either, despite favourable preliminary reactions.
It is unlikely that this issue will be raised again this year. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)