EC presents tax transparency package to combat corporate tax avoidance

The European Commission on Wednesday presented a package of tax transparency measures with the aim to tackle corporate tax avoidance in the European Union (EU).

A key element of the package is a proposal to introduce the automatic exchange of information between EU Member States on their tax rulings, the EU press release said.

Corporate tax avoidance is thought to deprive EU Member States' public budgets of billions of euros a year.

"With today's proposal on the automatic exchange of information, tax authorities would be able to better identify loopholes or duplication of tax between Member States," said EC Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, responsible for the euro and social dialogue.

Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner for economic and financial affairs, taxation and customs said, "Tolerance has reached rock-bottom for companies that avoid paying their fair share of taxes, and for the regimes that enable them to do this," adding, "We have to rebuild the link between where companies really make their profits and where they are taxed. To do this, Member States need to open up and work together."

The legislative proposals of this package will be submitted to the European Parliament for consultation and to the Council of the EU for adoption. Endit