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Tax Transparency Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Information on Tax Rulings Brussels, 18 th March 2015

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Page 1: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

Tax Transparency Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange Proposal on Automatic Exchange

of Information on Tax Rulings of Information on Tax Rulings

Brussels, 18th March 2015

Page 2: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

Outline

1. General Context

2. What do we propose?

3. What will change?

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Exchange of information on tax rulingsExchange of information on tax rulings

Page 3: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

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Exchange of information on tax rulingsExchange of information on tax rulings

• Which rulings?• Broad scope on taxes, taxpayers covered and type of rulings• Retrospective element – 10 years back

• Which information?• Push: pre-defined information• Pull: Member States can ask for more if relevant to them

• How often?• Automatic exchange every 3 months

• To whom?• All other Member States (Elimination of discretion) and the EC

• When?• Effective date of implementation 1/1/2016

Page 4: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

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Page 5: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

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More info provided under the following link:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/company_tax/transparency/index_fr.htm

Page 6: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

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Rules in place todayRules in place todayDirective 2011/16/EU (DAC) on spontaneous

exchange •Room for discretion for Member States

•Member States only exchange "if they think it is relevant"

•No clear definition of tax rulings

•Content of exchange not clearly defined

•Timing of exchange not systematic

•Lack of information for the Commission

Page 7: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

Example 1

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MS 1 MS 2 MS 3

Low tax non-EUjurisdiction

HMS X

Page 8: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

Example 2

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MS X

MS Y

Profits Dividends

Page 9: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

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Example 1: Ruling on aggressive tax planningExample 1: Ruling on aggressive tax planningA group of companies sets up a management centre in Member State X, which has a low corporate tax rate. The management centre asks Member State X for a tax ruling to confirm that it can pay a royalty fee of 70% of its turnover to a holding company in a non-EU country (tax haven).

Member State X gives the tax ruling, de facto agreeing only to tax 30% of the profits that the management centre makes.

The management centre (which consists of 1 part-time employee, office, phoneline) then provides "management services" to all the group's companies in other Member States and charges them 20% of their total turnover for these services. As a result, large amounts of the group's revenue is shifted to Member State X, which applies a low tax rate to just 30% of these profits. The rest of the profits are shifted to the holding company in the tax haven, and remain untaxed.

The Member States in which the other companies are established are not aware of Member State X's tax ruling, nor do they have enough information to challenge the high price that the tiny management centre in Member State X is charging to the companies in their jurisdictions.

Page 10: Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings Tax Transparency Proposal on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

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Example 2: APA on aggressive tax planningExample 2: APA on aggressive tax planning

Member State X is a low tax country. A company in Member State X gets a tax ruling from the authorities there, confirming that it can charge very high prices for goods sold to its parent company in Member State Y. By doing this, the company generates artificially high profits in Member State X, which are taxed at a low rate.

The same company then transfers those profits back to the parent company in Member State Y in the form of dividends. By doing this, it avoids any further taxes on those profits, in line with the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive. This Directive gives a tax exemption to dividends transferred between a subsidiary and its parent company, in an effort to prevent the double taxation of companies.

With the automatic exchange of information, Member State Y would find out about the artificially high prices that the subsidiary is charging to the parent company, in order to shift profits to Member State X. As a result, it may be able to apply the anti-abuse element of the Parent-Subsidiary Directive, and deny the company the usual tax exemption for dividends.