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EU Calls For United Front Against Tax Evasion,
by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The European Commission is asking member states to carry out a general review
of their anti-abuse rules in the direct tax area, in the light of decisions handed
down by the European Court of Justice, and to explore possible coordinated solutions.
In order to prevent tax abuse, member states have implemented anti-abuse rules
with the aim of preventing economic operators from eroding the tax base in their
territory by diverting their income to other countries. However, member states'
existing anti-abuse rules often do not properly take into consideration the
freedoms of the European Treaty, and are therefore increasingly challenged.
In the framework of an EU-coordinated approach to direct taxation, the Commission
announced on Monday that it is willing to assist member states in bringing their
anti-abuse rules in line with EC law requirements, and to explore the scope for
coordinated responses to the challenges faced by EU governments.
Commenting on the initiative, Laszlo Kovacs, Commissioner responsible for Taxation
and Customs Union stated:
"The recent rulings by the European Court of Justice in this field clearly
show that Member States need to urgently carry out a critical review of their
existing anti-abuse rules. I understand that Member States need to ensure that
their tax bases are not unduly eroded because of abusive and overtly aggressive
tax planning schemes but we cannot tolerate disproportionate obstacles to cross-border
activity within the EU. I invite Member States, in order to strike the proper
balance, together to explore the potential and scope for possible coordinated
solutions."
The EC argues that the catalyst for the need to address issues related to the
application of anti-abuse rules lies with the development of the European tax
law. Over the past few years, the European Court of Justice has handed down a
number of important rulings in this area, such as the Cadbury-Schweppes decision, and the thin
capitalisation group litigation order, in which it clarified the limitations
on the lawful use of anti-avoidance rules. The Commission says that these must
not be framed too broadly, but must be targeted at wholly artificial arrangements,
i.e. situations where there is no genuine establishment or more generally where
there is a lack of commercial underpinning.
The rulings, the EC noted, have a significant impact on the existing rules,
which had not been formulated with the Community constraints in mind.
The Commission believes that while there should be no undue obstacles to the
exercise of the rights conferred upon individuals and economic operators under
EU law, member states also need to be able to operate effective tax systems
and prevent their tax bases from being unduly eroded because of abuse and inadvertent
non-taxation. The EC also wants better coordination of efforts to formulate
anti-abuse measures in relation to "third countries", in order to protect
member states' tax bases.
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