Activities of Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA related to 2020/2046(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Implementation of EU requirements for exchange of tax information (debate)
Amendments (35)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas EU taxpayers held EUR 1.5 trillion offshore in 2016, resulting in an average tax revenue loss of EUR 46 billion in the EU as a result of tax evasion by individuals12 ; that this amount is only a parcel of the general problem of tax avoidance by individuals and companies; and that this value is illegitimately subtracted to national budgets and, therefore, represents an additional effort to compliant taxpayers; _________________ 12European Commission, Directorate- General for Taxation and Customs Union, Taxation Papers, Working Paper No 76, ‘Estimating International Tax Evasion by Individuals’, September 2019, https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/ taxation/files/2019-taxation-papers-76.pdf
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the difficulties encountered in the Council in agreeing on the improvements put forward by the Commission demonstrates the need to promovte to a qualified majorityhe debate on the decision making procedure, in line with the provisions of the treaties in tax matters;
Amendment 29 #
C. whereas it is in the responsibility of Parliament to exercise political scrutiny over the Commission, including its enforcement and implementation policy,“the European Parliament shall, jointly with the Council, exercise legislative and budgetary functions. It shall exercise functions of political control and consultation as laid down in the Treaties” according to Article 14 TEU and whereas “this requires adequate access to relevant informatione Commission, as a body, shall be responsible to the European Parliament” according to Article 17.8 TEU;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the DAC framework should be accompanied by equal attention to the capacity and willingness of tax administrations to facilitate compliance and serve the interests of taxpayers;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas the Directive on Administrative Cooperation in the field of Taxation must be an instrument to enhance the common work of national tax administrations, but must consider dimensions such as: i) the reinforcement of tax administrations resources (on human, financial and infrastructure - mainly digital infrastructure); ii) the protection of taxpayers rights, such as data protection; iii) the safeguard of professional and industrial secrets, with high standards of cybersecurity in the exchange of information process; iv) the reduction of administrative and bureaucratic burden to taxpayers and companies; v) the promotion of higher performance standards for tax administrations, with tighter deadlines to comply with european rules; and vi) the safeguard of the competitiveness of our companies, with simpler and faster ways to guarantee compliance with the administrative requirements;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
D b. whereas that the progressively digitized and globalized economy reveals complex and challenging dimensions, such as digital assets and crypto-assets, it is important to increase cooperation between national tax administrations in this field. A clear definition of crypto- assets, in line with the ongoing work within the OECD and FATF, would be important to enhance the combat against tax evasion and to promote fair taxation. The proliferation of crypto-currencies is a topical matter and should be considered in any effort to increase administrative cooperation, based on the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D c (new)
Recital D c (new)
D c. whereas tax policies are at the core of national fiscal and tax sovereignty and represent national competences, any major decision at the European level must be based on a strict respect for the intergovernamental logic that presides this field of European integration; whereas important decisions on further integration on this matter must be taken always respecting the treaties, national competences and fiscal and tax national sovereignty; whereas this Parliament stands with the ambition to find innovative solutions on tax matters, having in regard the institutional framework that we want to preserve;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D d (new)
Recital D d (new)
D d. whereas the administrative cooperation in the field of taxation must be an instrument to enhance the combat against tax fraud and evasion by individuals and enterprises, through improved communication channels and effective exchange of information practices;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D e (new)
Recital D e (new)
D e. whereas the consecutive revisions of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation in the field of Taxation proves that this is a dimension of topical interest for Member States and European policy makers, that the European instruments are gradually and progressively evolving to a logic of closer cooperation and that citizens are aware of the European solutions added value on tackling issues linked to taxation, mainly on the combat against tax fraud and evasion;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D f (new)
Recital D f (new)
D f. whereas the lack of information publicly available on the quantitative data of the exchange of information performed under DAC1 to DAC4 makes the democratic scrutiny of national parliaments and the European Parliament significantly difficult; and that the publication of anonymized and purely quantitative data would be useful to the evaluation of the implementation of the Directive by Member States;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D g (new)
Recital D g (new)
D g. whereas the delayed or deficient transposition of DAC by Member States justified several infringement procedures and that this scenario motivates this Parliament on the stand for a strict control by the Commission on the transposition of European legislation on tax matters and, specifically, on DAC provisions;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the fact that the DACEU institutions hasve been continuously imreviewing and gradually tightening the DAC rules and provced to widen the sures under which the Member States coope of therate with each other with a view to exchangeing of information (EOI) in order to curbimprove Member States ability to prevent cross-border tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance, including the recent proposal on DAC7, as well as the plans for DAC8;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes, however, that some types of income and assets are still excluded from the scope, which presents abetter implementation and application of rules by tax authorities are necessary in order to minimize the risk of circumventing tax obligations; calls on the Commission to assess the need and the most appropriate way to include the following ownership information, items of income and non-financial assets in the automatic exchange of information (AEOI): (a) the beneficial owners of immovable property and companies; (b) capital gains related to immovable property and capital gains related to financial assets, in particular to find ways for tax administrations to be better informed to identify realised capital gains; (c) non-custodial dividend income; (d) non-financial assets such as cash, art, gold or other valuables held at free ports, customs warehouses or safe deposit boxes; and (e) ownership of yachts and private jet, first of all, guarantee a better enforcement of existing DAC rules in domestic laws of the Member States and application by tax authorities, and secondly, expand the scope of mandatory information exchange to include crypto- currencies, non-custodial dividend income and advance cross-border tax rulings issued for natural persons;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Observes that the effectiveness of DAC1 is seriously constrained by the fact that Member States are only required to report at least two categories of income; calls on the Commission to make it mandatory to reportthe data that is readily available; takes note of the recent amendment, that obliges the Member States to exchange all information that is available, but on at least two categories of income for taxable periods until 2024 and on at least four categories of income with other Member States with respect to taxable periods as of 2024; calls on the Commission’s further assessment before suggesting new steps; urges the Commission to put forward a proposal to oblige Member States to exchange information on all the categories of income and assets in the scopprovisioned in the Directive;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Observes that the definition of reporting Financial Institutions (FIs) and types of accounts that need to be reported in DAC2 involves a risk of circumvention and increased bureaucracy; calls on the Commission to guide Member States to achieve better DAC2 data completeness, to establish specific procedures for auditing the financial institutions regarding the quality and completeness of the data sent; calls for an assessment by the Commission ofto check the need to possibly extend the reporting obligations to other relevant types of FIs, to avoid further red-tape and to possibly review the definition of excluded accounts and to remove the thresholds applicable to pre- existing entity accounts;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Observes that DAC3 contains certain blind spots; therefore calls fordata entries lack quality and that available data to Member States have not been sufficiently evaluated; calls on them to better exploit the existing datasets before possibly widening the scope of EOI under DAC3 to be widened to include informal arrangements, post- transaction agreements, natural persons and rulings which are still valid, but which were issued, amended or renewed before 2012;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Reminds that DAC provisions are applicable to every enterprise that is obliged by the reporting duties; however, recalls that MNEs and SMEs have significant differences on their compliance policies and that must be considered in future DAC revisions; therefore, understands that SMEs compliance costs and administrative burden must be reduced;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that the information exchanged is of limited quality; calls for stronger enforcement procedures at Member State level and to set up domestic systems of penalties that they apply for incorrect or incomplete reporting having an effective deterrent effect; calls on the Commission to include on the spot visits in Member States and to assess the effectiveness of their monitoring schemes; calls on the Member States to establish a system of quality and completeness checks of DAC data, as well as procedures for the audit of reporting obliged entities regarding the quality and completeness of data sent;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes that the effectiveness of the DAC relies heavily on theDAC5 provided access by tax authorities to beneficial ownership information as collected under anti- money -laundering (AML) directives in place at Member State level; observes that the incorrect implementation of these directives, the lack of effective enforcement and the remaining weaknesses inrules; observes that the fifth AML Directive (AMLD5) widened the scope for interaction between AML and DAC and that the AML framework undermine the effectiveness of the DACD5 had to be transposed by Member States by 10 January 2020;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Acknowledges that several Member States are under infringement procedures based on the lack of transposition of AMLD4 and AMLD5; reminds that stronger, deeper and effective administrative cooperation in the field of taxation is an important tool to tackle Money Laundering criminal practices; understands that judicial procedures are matter of national competence comprehended at the core of national sovereignty; calls, however, for a deeper cooperation in the field of judicial and criminal matters, based on the outcome of an effective administrative cooperation in the field of taxation; reminds that the definition of crimes is a national competence, but recalls the importance of the ECJ jurisprudence and the added value of judicial cooperation;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Understand that DAC provides a valuable framework of rules that can help the combat against Money Laundering and terrorist financing; welcomes the Commission Action Plan in this area; urges the Commission to consider the proposal for a binding regulation on the field of AML; rejects any solution that multiplies entities, legislative frameworks and bureaucratic mechanisms that are obstacles to an effective combat against money laundering criminal practices;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Observes that increasingly complex structures are being used to conceal the ultimate beneficial owners and therefore thwart the effective implementation of AML rules; believes there should be no threshold for reporting the beneficial ownersCalls on the European Commission to present, in due time, an evaluation of the interaction between AML and DAC 2020;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes that the Commission monitors the transposition of the DAC legislation in the Member States; points out, however, that it has so far neither taken direct and effective action to address the lack of quality of the data sent between Member States, nor carried out visits to Member States, nor has it ensured the effectiveness of sanctions imposed by Member States for breaches of the DAC reporting provisions; calls on the Commission to step up its activities in this regard and to launchtake direct and effective actions to address the lack of quality of data sent by Member States, further develop its guidance for Member States on implementing the DAC legislation, performing risk analysis and using tax information received, and use as an instrument of last resort infringement procedures, using, among others, the Global Forum13 and Financial Action Task Force reviews; _________________ 13Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Acknowledges that the minimum requirements on the exchange of information are insufficient; asks, therefore, for the consideration of all categories of income provisioned in the Directive within the exchanges of information; however, understand that the current list of income categories subject to that exchange of information is sufficient; calls for the application of the DAC provisions at it's full extent;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Understand that the Tax Identification Number (TIN) is an important instrument to identify taxpayers and that the exchange of information provisioned in the Directive must be based on solid and certain grounds guaranteed by identification processes duly installed in Member States; recalls that every measure to facilitate taxpayers identification must respect fundamental rights, especially the right to privacy and data protection;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. RegretsTakes note of the fact that information exchanged on request (EOIR) has often been found to be incomplete and required further clarifications; calls on the Commission to assess indications that EOIR is unsatisfactory with several third countries, including Switzerland;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Deplores the fact that one Member State, Malta, has received an overall ‘partially compliant’ score in the peer review by the Global Forum for EOIR; regrets the fact that material deficiencies have been identified in 18 Member States15 ; calls, therefore, the Member States to fully commit with the DAC objectives and the increment of EOI best practices; _________________ 15 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/et udes/STUD/2021/662603/EPRS_STU(202 1)662603_EN.pdf
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Notes that the use of information under the DAC for non-tax matters requires prior authorisation from the sending Member State, which is not always granted, although commonly based on justified terms; insists that the use of information exchanged under the DAC should always be authorised for purposes other than tax matters where this is allowed under the laws of the receiving Member State; urges, in this context, the Member States to fully commit to high standards of respect for citizens fundamental rights, as taxpayers;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Acknowledges the added value of sharing best practices and permanent support from the Commission on the empowerment of national tax administrations; underlines the special role of Fiscalis 2020 programme in this regard; recalls that, nevertheless, national tax administrations need significant reinforcement on their human, financial and infrastructural resources; calls, therefore, Member States to commit to sufficient levels of investment on national tax administrations;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to establish a common framework for measuring the impact and the cost-benefits of the DAC; calls on the Commission to publish annually a summary of the information received by Member States; this information must be anonymised and safeguard confidential or sensible information on taxpayers; however, this report must have aggregated and detailed data for a proper democratic scrutiny by the Parliament;
Amendment 154 #
20 a. Calls on the Member States to reinforce the investment on IT infrastructure, in order to digitalize national tax administrations and, therefore, reduce bureaucracy, administrative burden and compliance costs on taxpayers;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Deeply regrets the fact that all Member States – with exception of Finland and Sweden – have refused to grant Parliament access to the relevant data to assess the implementation of DAC provisions; deplores the fact that the Commission has decided to refusedid not grant Parliament access to the respective data in its possession; considers that Parliament is thereby in effect being hindered in exercising its function of political scrutiny over the Commission; notes that this implementthe Commission risks the application of Article 17.8 TEU that states that “the Commission, as a body, shall be responsible to the European Parliament”; notes that the Parliament has had a lack of information repfort therefore has significant shortcomings preparation of this implementation report; calls on the Member States and the Commission to put an end to their refusal to share the relevant documents, in line with Regulation 1049/200116, which applies directly, and the principle of sincere cooperation, provisioned in Article 13(2) of the TEU; calls for Parliament to use all legal means at its disposal to ensure that it receives all documents needed for a complete assessment of the implementation of the DAC; _________________ 16Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22 a. Deplores the position of the Council on the context of consecutive DAC revisions, based on the constant mitigation of Commission proposals and the disregard of Parliament positions; calls the Council to review it's attitude towards the Parliament on tax matters and, concretely, on DAC revisions; urges the Council to concede access to relevant information on DAC implementation, in order to guarantee a proper democratic scrutiny by the Parliament;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22 b. Calls on the Commission to put forward a comprehensive legislative proposal on a global revision of DAC, considering the Parliament's proposals in recent revision processes, according to this implementing report and in line with a wide public consultation;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 c (new)
Paragraph 22 c (new)
22 c. Understands that DAC, as comprehended on tax matters, is an intergovernamental dimension on European integration; reminds, however, that tax policies are structural in the fulfillment of strategic EU objectives, mainly related to AML, terrorist financing, combat against tax fraud and evasion, etc.; urges the Commission and the Council to respect the institutional framework of the EU and to consider a closer cooperation with the Parliament on tax matters and, concretely, in future DAC revision procedures;