8 Amendments of Molly SCOTT CATO related to 2016/0209(CNS)
Amendment 15 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 1 a (new)
Recital 1 a (new)
(1a) Council Directive 2011/16/EU is still characterised by several loopholes used by tax-dodging experts to circumvent the automatic exchange of information therefore, undermining its effectiveness. In order to prevent their use to avoid reporting, as a result of a situation where asset management and beneficial ownership are located in the same jurisdiction, entities which are effectively untaxed and unsupervised should not be considered to be investment entities. In addition, a Union financial institution should be considered as the reporting entity for a Custodial Institution with a foreign account to prevent the circumvention of reporting by placing clients’ assets in a foreign custodial institution. To avoid the exploitation of "synthetic" tax residents’ certificates easily available in countries such as Panama, Gibraltar, the Bahamas and thereby circumventing reporting to the Union authority, any previous residence in the Union within the last ten years should be deemed as an indication of current residence. A tax clearance certificate should be used to establish actual residence. In order to avoid selling newly created investment-linked insurances which are non-cash value and thereby allow the circumvention of reporting, Union law should provide that such instruments are treated as cash value policies. The exception allowing non-reporting of insurance policies sold by foreign agents to Union residents should be abolished. Whereas they currently fall into the category of an Holding active non-financial entity which is exempt from reporting, trusts owing companies should be considered to be a reporting entity. In order to prevent the use of loans which are not repaid as a way of redistributing profits and investment returns, credit interest should, like equity and debt interest, be reportable. The possibility of exploiting current provisions which exempt newly created entities which merely state the intention of being an operational company from reporting should be removed. Gold should be included among financial assets since it produces a financial income in the form of gold leasing, which is currently excluded from reporting.
Amendment 21 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3 a (new)
Recital 3 a (new)
(3a) The observed link between tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering calls for exploiting, to the maximum extent, synergies stemming from domestic, Union and international cooperation between the different authorities involved in fighting these crimes and abuses. Issues, such as beneficial ownership transparency or the extent to which entities, such as legal professions, are subject to the AML framework in third countries, are crucial to enhancing the ability of Union authorities to address tax dodging and money laundering.
Amendment 30 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4 a (new)
Recital 4 a (new)
(4a) Enhanced customer due diligence measures should also be made available to tax authorities. However, enhanced measures currently have little scope to fight tax evasion since they are largely applied to countries included in the list of high-risk countries as defined by the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 of 14 July 20161a. Currently, the list mirrors the existing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list and does not include a number of countries where recent scandals and observed scant adherence to a number of FATF recommendations still point to widespread tax evasion and money laundering activities occurring in such jurisdictions. Therefore, it is vital to adopt an extended updated list of high-risk countries on the basis of additional and more stringent criteria. Moreover, in order to exploit synergies in the Union legislative framework, specific enhanced customer due diligence measures shall also be applied to those countries which will be included in the forthcoming Union common list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions to be published by the Commission. _________________ 1aCommission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 of 14 July 2016 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council by identifying high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies (OJ L 254, 20.9.2016, p.1)
Amendment 35 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4 b (new)
Recital 4 b (new)
(4b) Since AML information is in many cases of a cross-border nature, it should be included, when relevant, in the automatic exchange between Member States and should be made available on request to the Commission in the framework of its power to enforce state aid rules. Moreover, given the complexity and the need to verify the reliability of this information, such as in the case of data on beneficial ownership, tax authorities should cooperate on cross-border enquiries.
Amendment 42 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point -1 (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point -1 (new)
Directive 2011/16/EU
Article 5 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 43 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point -1a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point -1a (new)
Directive 2011/16/EU
Article 5 – paragraph 1 b (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 1 b (new)
In Article 5, the following paragraph is added: “The Commission, in the framework of its power to enforce state aid rules, shall have access on request to the information referred to Article 22 of this Directive.”
Amendment 46 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point -1b (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point -1b (new)
Directive 2011/16/EU
Article 8 a (new)
Article 8 a (new)
The following article is inserted: “Article 8a The tax authorities of a Member State shall automatically exchange the documents and information referred to in Article 22 of this Directive with any other Member State if the beneficial owner of a firm, or, in the case of a trust, the settler, one of the trustees, the protector (where applicable), a beneficiary or any other natural person exercising effective control over the trust, or, lastly, the holder of an account referred to in Article 32a of Directive (EU) 2015/849 is a taxpayer in that Member State.”
Amendment 49 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Directive 2011/16/EU
Article 22 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 22 – paragraph 1 a (new)
(1a) For the purpose of the implementation and enforcement of the laws of the Member States giving effect to this directive, and to ensure the functioning of the administrative cooperation it establishes, Member States shall provide by law for access by tax authorities to the mechanisms, procedures, documents and information referred to in articles 7, 13, 30, 31, 32a and 4018, 18a, 19, 27, 30, 31, 32a, 40, 44, 48 of Directive 2015/849/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council*.