[Updated] The Government of Bermuda said they note that the Economic and Financial Affairs Council [ECOFIN] has “reaffirmed Bermuda’s status as a cooperative tax jurisdiction.” Premier David Burt said, “Once again the EU has recognized Bermuda’s status as a cooperative jurisdiction, despite the interest surrounding a hack on a global… – Continue reading
EU Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis has said there is a broad consensus among European finance ministers on the principle of greater tax harmonization, and that talks will continue on the proposed common corporate tax base (CCTB). At a May 23 ECOFIN meeting, ministers discussed the Commission’s proposal for a CCTB in… – Continue reading
The Netherlands is slowly but surely steering away from facilitating the use of its corporate income tax system by companies that are set up merely to obtain tax benefits. These companies, which often do not actually carry out activities in the Netherlands, have contributed to the perception among policy makers… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Edward Scicluna presented amendments to rules against tax avoidance practices within the ECOFIN Council today, amounting to a compromise solution which was accepted. The solution provides rules regarding corporate hybrid mismatches and third countries. The Council agreed its position on rules aimed at closing down ‘hybrid mismatches’ with… – Continue reading
The European Commission has put forward a proposal to allow member states to expand their use of the value-added tax “reverse charge mechanism” for fraud-prone goods. The proposal was first unveiled last month, and was presented to a meeting of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council on January 27…. – Continue reading
Tough rules to regulate tax advisers, banks and lawyers who help companies avoid tax are set to be advanced by European Union finance ministers. The Council of Economic and Financial Affairs Oct. 11 also will likely move toward a system of automatic exchange of beneficial ownership registers to better target… – Continue reading
Slovakia, the current president of the EU council, challenges finance ministers from all the EU member states to introduce mandatory disclosure rules for intermediaries including accountants who seek to profit from the promotion, design or implementation of tax avoidance schemes The proposals were outlined in a ‘presidency issues’ note presented… – Continue reading
Potential slice of the Apple pie stems from Commission’s invitation to EU tax authorities. BRATISLAVA — The €13 billion clawback of unpaid taxes from U.S. tech giant Apple has piqued the interests of EU finance ministers, who have today asked the European Commission for more details on the potential share… – Continue reading
The European Commission is on the brink of agreeing its far-reaching anti-tax avoidance directive, but is waiting on approval of some elements of the package by the Belgian and Czech governments, before it introduces new rules at midnight on Monday 20 June At the end of last week the Commission’s… – Continue reading
The EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) has been unable to reach agreement on the European Commission’s proposed anti tax avoidance directive. The issue has therefore been postponed until the next ECOFIN meeting in June. The European Commission announced its proposed anti-tax avoidance directive (ATAD) in January. The proposed… – Continue reading
Tensions between the EU and the US over tax follow investigations into Apple in Ireland The US should be added to a new European blacklist of tax havens being drawn up by the European Commission, according to a report commissioned by the Green group in the European Parliament. The report,… – Continue reading
Following the release of the anti-tax-avoidance (ATA) package on January 28, 2016 by the European Commission, the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union presented an EU-Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Roadmap (the Roadmap) to the Members of the High Level Working Party on Tax issues. The… – Continue reading
Malta’s Minister of Finance, Edward Scicluna, has expressed disappointment that the proposed EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive was not accompanied by an impact assessment for member states. Speaking at the ECOFIN meeting of EU Finance Ministers in Brussels, he said that such an impact assessment is necessary, including to measure the… – Continue reading
ECOFIN’s latest monthly review of VAT measures includes abandoning plans for a standard VAT return across 28 countries. The Czech Republic has requested to pilot the domestic reverse charge, an anti-VAT fraud measure. The EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) latest update on VAT measures includes, as anticipated, abandoning… – Continue reading
January 2016 You will find below a summary of some of the most important tax developments that have happened since the release of our last newsletter, at OECD, EU or country level, in the area of tax transparency and the fight against tax avoidance. EU – Tax transparency and anti-BEPS… – Continue reading
The Administration of the Ministry of Finance has announced the upcoming amendment of the Intellectual Property tax regime. The said amendment will incorporate the recommendations of Action 5 of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which were issued on 5 October 2015 for the Action Plan against ‘Base… – Continue reading
The European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council agreed a work plan in response to the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting recommendations at its meeting on December 8. Following the meeting, ECOFIN – comprised of finance and economy ministers from all member states – released a list of agreed… – Continue reading
Michael Noonan, Ireland’s Finance Minister, underlined Ireland’s position on key international tax issues that were scheduled for discussion at a meeting of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), reports Tax News. Noonan was addressing the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, and Reform on December 1, 2015, in… – Continue reading
The agenda of the meeting of the European Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) of December 8, 2015 has been published on the website of the European Council/Council of the European Union. According to the Agenda, ECOFIN will a.o. discuss 2 tax subjects. First of all the proposal for a… – Continue reading
Members of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee have described last week’s agreement on a directive for the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings as a “missed opportunity”. The European Commission said last week that the Economics and Financial Affairs Council of the European Union (ECOFIN) had… – Continue reading
