BETA

64 Amendments of Philippe LAMBERTS related to 2015/2010(INL)

Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
B. whereas the revelations showed that tax advisors have helped multinational companies to obtain at least 548 tax rulings in Luxembourg between 2002 and 2010; whereas those secret deals feature complex financial structures designed to create substantial tax reductions; whereas the tax rulings provide written assurance that multinational companies’ tax-saving plans would be viewed favourably by Luxembourg authorities, such a revelation would not have been possible without the brave actions of Antoine Deltour, now on trial in Luxembourg;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
E. whereas the investigations carried out under the TAXE Committee revealed that the practice of tax rulings does not exclusively take place in Luxembourg but is common across the Union, such as in the Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom and many overseas dependencies; whereas the practice of tax rulings can be used legitimately to provide legal certainty for business, but is nevertheless open to potential abuse; whereas regard is had to the report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published on 12 February 2013 entitled ‘Addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting’ proposed new international standards to combat base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS); whereas regard is also had to the Communiqué issued following the Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G20 which took place on [to be inserted];
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
N. whereas the Union has been a pioneer in the global fight against aggressive tax planning, notably in promoting progress at OECD level on the BEPS project ; whereas the Union should continue to play a pioneering role as the BEPS project develops;, including ensuring action on the BEPS and beyond BEPS issues of significance to developing countries such as those detailed in the report to the G20 Development Working Group in 20141 a; __________________ 1a http://www.oecd.org/tax/tax- global/report-to-g20-dwg-on-the-impact- of-beps-in-low-income-countries.pdf
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital T – point i
(i) whereas increased transparency regarding the activities of large multinational companies, and in particular regarding profits made, taxes on profit paid, subsidies received and tax returns, is essential for ensuring that tax administrations tackle BEPS efficiently; whereas one vital form for this transparency to take is country-by-country reporting; whereas anythe Union proposals forshould go further than the OECD guidelines, by introducing mandatory and public country- by- country reporting should in the first instance be based on the OECD guidelines; whereas it is possible for the Union to go further than the OECD guidelinefor Union- based multinational companies of all economic sectors, and the European Parliament voted in favour of full public country-by-country reporting in its amendments adopted on 8 July 20154 on the proposal for a revised Shareholder Rights Directive; whereas the European Commission conducted a consultation on this subject between 17 June and 9 September 2015 in order to explore different options for the implementation of country-by-country reporting5 ; whereas the tax information of multinational companies cannot be considered a business or commercial secret as defined by the OECD and can therefore be automatically exchanged, or in the case of country-by-country reporting, be made publicly available without leading to serious damage for the multinational companies concerned; __________________ 4 Texts adopted of 8.7.2015, P8_TA(2015)0257. 5 http://ec.europa.eu/finance/consultations/2 015/further-corporate-tax- transparency/index_en.htm.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital T – point iv
(iv) whereas there is evidence that Member States do not communicate sufficiently between themselves about the possible impact that their tax arrangements with certain companies might have on tax collection in other Member States; whereas national tax authorities should automatically exchange all tax rulings without delay after they have been issued; whereas tax rulings signed up to by tax authorities should be subject to greater transparency, providing that confidential information and business sensitive information is preserved and should be made public for instance by means of a central Union register;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital T – point vii
(vii) whereas the current Union-wide legal framework to protect whistleblowers is insufficient, and there exists significant variation between the ways in which different Member States provide protection for whistleblowers; whereas in the absence of such protection, those employees who hold vital information will understandably be reluctant to come forward and therefore that information will not be made available, particularly given the case of Antoine Deltour, on trial in Luxembourg; whereas since whistleblowers helped to mobilise public attention on the issue of unfair taxation, Member States should consider measures that will protect such activity; whereas it would therefore be appropriate to offer Union-wide protection for whistleblowers who report suspected misconduct, wrongdoing, fraud or illegal activity to national regulators or, in cases of persistently unaddressed illegal activity that could affect the public interest, to the public as a whole; whereas such protection should be coherent with the overall legal system;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital T – point vii a (new)
(viia) whereas the four biggest accounting firms (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG) have a crucial role in the design and marketing of rulings and tax avoidance schemes exploiting mismatches between national legislations; whereas those firms, which seem to derive a considerable amount of their revenue from tax services, to dominate most Member States' auditing markets and to prevail in the global tax advising services, constitute a narrow oligopoly; whereas the existence of conflict of interest resulting from the juxtaposition, within the same firms, of tax advice and consulting activities intended, on the one hand, for tax administrations and, on the other, for MNCs' tax planning services, which exploit the weaknesses of national tax laws; whereas the effectiveness of any corporate code of conduct in tackling this issue is questionable; whereas tax rulings and settlement agreements have become, in the Union and worldwide, a common business practice, not only to obtain legal certainty or advantageous tax deals, but also in cases where legislative provisions do not allow any room for interpretation;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital U – point i
(i) whereas a mandatory Union-wide Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) would be a major step towards solving those problems associated with aggressive tax planning within the Union; whereas the ultimate goal should remain a full, mandatory CCCTB with possible exemptions for small- and medium-sized enterprises (not subsidiaries of multinational corporations) and companies with no cross-border activity; whereas until a full CCCTB is in place, the Commission is considering temporary measures to counteract profit shifting opportunities; whereas it is necessary to ensure that those measures, including the offsetting of cross- border losses, do not increase the risk of BEPS;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital U – point ii
(ii) whereas despite the work of the Code of Conduct Group on harmful corporate taxation, aggressive tax planning measures continue to exist throughout the Union; whereas therefore the functioning of the Group needs to be improved and made more transparent; through the publishing of minutes, and annual reports; whereas the Code of Conduct Group has lost momentum for more than a decade now and is used as a reason to prevent further legislative proposals by the Commission; whereas some of the more than 100 measures which have been rolled back as a result of its activity have been replaced in Member States by tax measures with similar harmful effects; whereas that tax authorities have countered the Group's recommendations by creating new structures with the same harmful effects as those rolled back by the Group; whereas past attempts to strengthen its governance and mandate, and to adjust and broaden the working methods and criteria set in the Code, with the aim of combating new forms of harmful tax practices within the current economic environment, have not been successful; whereas Group's activities are characterised by a general lack of transparency and accountability;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital U – point iii
(iii) whereas the overall principle of corporate taxation in the Union should be that taxes are paid in the countries where a company's actual economic activity and value creation takes place; whereas criteria should be developed to ensure that this occurthe most effective criteria to ensure that this occurs is to replace the arm's length method with a formula apportionment method based on an objective variable such as giving high weight to companies' sales; whereas this method is already effectively applied in the United States; whereas the Union should promote at global level actions towards a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base project to tax global profits of non-Union multinationals; whereas any use of 'patent box' or other preferential tax regimes must also ensure that taxes are paid in the place where value is generated;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital U – point vii
(vii) whereas the Commission decided to prolong the mandate of the Platform for Tax Good Governance - which was due to expire in 2016 - as well as expand its scope and enhance its working methods; whereas the Platform can help deliver on the new Action Plan to strengthen the fight against tax fraud and tax evasion, facilitate discussions on Member States' tax rulings in light of the proposed new information exchange rules, and provide feedback on new anti-avoidance initiatives; whereas however the Commission needs to boost the profile, broaden the membership, expel Member States guilty of aggressive tax planning operations, and increase the effectiveness of the Platform for Tax Good Governance;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital V – point i
(i) whereas aggressive tax planning practices may sometimes arise from the cumulative benefits of double taxation treaties concluded by different Member States, perversely resulting in double non- taxation instead; whereas the proliferation of double tax treaties signed up to by individual Member States with third countries may lead to opportunities for new loopholes; whereas, in line with Action 15 of the OECD/G20 BEPS project, there is a need to develop a multilateral instrument for amending bilateral tax treaties; whereas, in line with the Union approach on trade agreements with developing countries, there is a need for Member States to agree principles and practices for a common approach to (re)negotiating double taxation treaties with developing countries which put developing countries first and benefit them, not exploit them;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital V – point ii
(ii) whereas the Union should have its own up to date list of 'tax havens' based on a common Union definition; whereas the OECD 1998 report which launched this project defined a tax haven as a jurisdiction which has: (a) no or only nominal taxes (generally or in special circumstances) and offers itself, or is perceived to offer itself, as a place to be used by non-residents to escape tax in their country of residence; (b) laws or administrative practices which prevent the effective exchange of relevant information with other governments on taxpayers benefiting from the low or no tax jurisdiction; (c) lack of transparency, and (d) the absence of a requirement that the activity be substantial, since it would suggest that a jurisdiction may be attempting to attract investment or transactions that are purely tax driven (transactions may be booked there without the requirement of adding value so that there is little real activity, i.e. these jurisdictions are essentially "booking centres"); whereas the proliferation of harmful tax practices to attract investment or transaction that are purely tax driven have proliferated also within the Union; whereas in light of the existence of such harmful tax practices the Union should also have its own definition of harmful preferential tax regimes;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital V – point iii
(iii) whereas the Union should apply counter measures towards companies who make use of such tax havens; whereas this has already been called for in the European Parliament's Report on the Annual Tax Report 20148 , which asked for the 'introduction of strong sanctions to prevent companies breaching or dodging tax standards, by refraining from granting EU funding and access to state aid or to public procurement to fraudulent companies or companies located in tax havens or countries distorting competition with favourable tax conditions; urges MSs to recover all types of public support given to companies if they are involved in breaching EU tax standards'; whereas EU countries should also be subject to counter-measures in case they refuse to act to modify their harmful preferential tax regimes undermining the existence of a level-playing field in the EU; __________________ 8 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDo c.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A8- 2015-0040+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1. Requests the Commission to submit to Parliament by June 2016 one or morea set of legislative proposals, following the detailed recommendations in the Annex hereto;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 1 – introductory part
The European Parliament calls once again on the European Commission to bring forward a legislative proposal by Junethe first quarter of 2016 to introduce public country-by-country reporting (CBC-R) for multinational companies in all sectors.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 1 – indent 1
This proposal should be developed on the basis oftake into account the requirements put forward by the OECD in its CBC-R data template published in September 2014 (Action 13 of the OECD/G20 BEPS project), while also envisaging public CBC-R applying to all ‘large’ undertakings in in all sectors in accordance with the Union’s definition included in the Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council1a and Directive 2013/50/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council1b, including detailed disclosure requirements such as (turnover, staffing levels, investment, profits, taxes paid, taxes deferred) to be part of companies’ annual financial statement and allow the public to have access to this information, for instance by creating a central Union register. _________________ 1aDirective 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings, amending Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC (OJ L 182, 29.6.2013, p. 19). 1b Directive 2013/50/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2013 amending Directive 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market, Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and Commission Directive 2007/14/EC laying down detailed rules for the implementation of certain provisions of Directive 2004/109/EC (OJ L 294, 6.11.2013, p. 13).
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 1 – indent 2 a (new)
The Commission should ensure in its future country-by-country proposal that accounting firms have to confirm in the Group Audit Report that the figures in respect of taxes, turnovers, number of employees and profit made are also in line with the ‘true and fair view’ particularly allocated/shown per country;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 3 – introductory part
The European Parliament calls on the European Commission to bring forward a proposal as soon as possible on a new mechanism whereby Member States are compelled to inform other Member States (initially via the Code of Conduct Group) if they intend to introduce a new allowance, relief, exception, incentive or similar measure that could have a material impact on the effective tax rate in the Member State or on the tax base of another Member State. and to reform the Code of Conduct Group;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 256 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 3 – indent 2 a (new)
An infringement procedure of the rule of the internal market should be envisaged with respect to Member States which fail to comply with such reporting requirements.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 3 – indent 3 a (new)
The European Parliament should receive regular update about the notifications and the assessment conducted by the European Commission.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 4 – title
Recommendation A4. Automatic exchange of information on tax rulings to be extended to all tax rulings and to a certain extent made publicbe made public, transparency on offshore banking statistics and company structure
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 4 – indent 2 – introductory part
Significantly increasing the transparency of tax rulings at the EU level, with due consideration given to business confidentiality and trade secrets and taking into account the current best practices applicable in some Member States via one of the following methodsMaking public all tax rulings at the EU level, by:
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 275 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 4 – indent 2 – point 1
° r• Requiring Member States orand the Commission to produce an annual list, publishedublish all rulings in a fully public directory accessible to all, of companies with which they have concluded tax rulings, one year at the most after the tax ruling is signed by tax authorities ;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 276 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 4 – indent 2 – point 2
requiring Member States or the Commission to publish a summary of the main important (anonymised) tax rulings that have been agreed in the previous year.deleted
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 283 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 4 – indent 3 a (new)
Create, on the basis of data to be collected by financial institutions and provided to revenue authorities as part of Automatic Exchange of Information requirements, annual statistics to show the extent of each Member State offshore banking, including value and number of accounts by country of residency of account holders.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 284 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 4 – indent 3 b (new)
Calls on the Commission to create an obligation for large undertakings to publish they corporate ownership structure, in order to better understand where they have activities and who manages subsidiaries of these undertakings;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 286 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 5 – title
Recommendation A5. Transparency ofCompetition distortion caused by customs-free ports
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 290 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 6 – indent 1
Create, on the basis of best practices currently used by Member States, a harmonised methodology, which should be made public, that can be used to estimate the size of the direct and indirect corporate tax gaps - the difference between corporate taxes owed and corporate taxes paid - in all Member States, and across the Union as a whole.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 302 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 7 – indent 1
Protect whistleblowers who act in the public interest only (and not also for money or any other personal agenda) in order to expose misconduct, wrongdoing, fraud or illegal activity in relation to corporate taxation in any Member State in the European Union. SuchEstablishing a Union legal framework for effective protection of whistle-blowers swhould be protected if they report suspected expose for public interest misconduct, wrongdoing, fraud or illegal activity to their relevant competent authority, and should also be protected if, in cases of persistently unaddressed illegal activity in relation to corporate taxation that could affect the public interest, they report their concerns to the public as a whole;nd tax avoidance activity in relation to corporate taxation, in any Member State in the European Union.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 7 – indent 1 a (new)
Setup a European whistleblower common fund, financed by recovered money, to ensure whistleblowers receive an adequate financial assistance for public- interest secret disclosed;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 304 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 7 – indent 1 b (new)
Consider a range of tools to ensure such protection against unjustified legal prosecutions, economic sanctions and discriminations;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 7 – indent 4 a (new)
Such a legislative proposal must incorporate the definition of the term ‘whistleblower’ as provided by the Council of Europe, which has agreed that: ‘“whistleblower” means any person who reports or discloses information on a threat or harm to the public interest in the context of their work-based relationship, whether it be in the public or private sector’1a. __________________ 1ahttps://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=218 8855&Site=CM
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 311 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 7 – indent 5
Such a legislative proposal could also take into consideration the Council of Europe’s ‘Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)71 on the protection of whistleblowers’. __________________ 1 http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting /cdcj/Whistleblowers/protecting_whistlebl owers_en.aspdeleted
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 314 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 1 – subtitle 7 a (new)
Recommendation A7a. Reducing the abuse of tax planning practices and preventing conflict of interest The European Parliament calls on the European Commission to bring forward as soon as possible a legislative proposal for: • Regulating the tax advising service industry, namely ensuring the separation of audit and consulting activities of accounting firms or financial and tax services providers, requiring them to register new tax avoidance schemes to the member state concerned and to the European Commission and for the setting-up of a Union incompatibility regime for advisors in tax matters and, as appropriate, for banks, in order to ensure that conflicts of interest between services to the public and private sectors are avoided; calls on the Commission to launch an inquiry in order to assess the state of concentration in the sector; recommends the elimination of payment of accounting firms on success which incentivises the set-up of risky schemes; • Adopting a clear definition of conflict of interests and robust policies to prevent actors at risk of such conflicts of interest of being active members of any expert or advisory body; • Considering rebalancing its group membership through smaller groups and to exclude representatives of organisations convicted of tax evasion or any other criminal wrongdoing or involved in tax avoidance schemes; • Calling on the accounting firms and other financial and tax services providers to seriously strengthen their internal code of conduct in order to avoid supporting harmful tax planning schemes by multinational companies; • Considering introducing provisions to require that tax-planning strategy would be discussed and approved by companies’ shareholders
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 318 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 1 – title
Recommendation B1. Introduction of a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 320 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 1 – introductory part
The European Parliament calls on the European Commission to bring forward as soon as possible a legislative proposal for the introduction of a common consolidated corporate tax base:
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 325 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 1 – paragraph 1
As a first step, by June 2016,• The Commission should refrain from splitting the common and the consolidated parts of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) and must come forward, by June 2016, with a single legislative proposal for a mandatory Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) in the Union, with. It should include an exemption for small- and medium-sized enterprises (not subsidiaries of multinational corporations) and companies with no cross-border activity, in order to have only one set of rules for companies operating in several Member States to calculate their taxable profits.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 329 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 1 – paragraph 1 a (new)
• The CCCTB should be based on a formula apportionment method based for instance on Company sales in each Member State in order to reflect the real economic activities of companies and does not unduly advantage certain Member States.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 331 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 1 – paragraph 1 b (new)
• The introduction of a CCCTB should be coupled with the introduction of a minimum tax rate.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 333 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 1 – paragraph 2
As a second step, as soon as possible and certainly no later than the end of 2017, a mandatory CCCTB, taking into due consideration the range of different options (factoring in the costs, for example, of incorporating small and medium enterprises and companies with no cross-border activity);deleted
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 343 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 1 – paragraph 3
During the interim period betweenprior to the introduction of mandatory CCTB and that of full CCCTB, a set of measures to reduce profit shifting (mainly via transfer pricing) including a Union anti-BEPS legislative proposal. These measures should include a temporary cross-border loss offset regime only if the Commission can guarantee that it will be transparent and will not create the possibility of misuse for aggressive tax planningshould be introduced including as a minimum a Union-wide anti-BEPS legislative proposal.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 1 – paragraph 4 a (new)
• The Commission should promote, in global forum where it participates, actions towards a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base project to tax global profits of non-Union multinational companies;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 360 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 3 – paragraph 1 a (new)
The Commission should bring forward proposals for common European standards and definitions on what qualifies as R&D promotion, and what does not, and for harmonising the use of patent and innovation boxes including advancing to 30 June 2017 the abolition of the old regime by shortening the timing of grandfathering rules;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 361 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 4 – indent 1
To coordinateprovide a framework for national Controlled Foreign Corporation rules, in order to ensure that profits parked in low or no tax countries are effectively taxed and to prevent the diversity of national CFC rules within the EU from distorting the functioning of the internal market. This shall not prevent individual Member State from introducing stricter rules.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 362 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 4 – indent 1 a (new)
To revise Union legislation on controlled foreign companies and its application according to the Cadbury Schweppes judgment of the European Court of Justice (C-196/04) in order to ensure full use of controlled foreign companies beyond situations of wholly artificial arrangements in order to ensure that profits parked in low or no tax countries are effectively taxed.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 363 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 5 – title
Recommendation B5. Improving EU and Member States’ coordination on tax audits and ensuring adequate staffing of tax authorities
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 364 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 5 – indent -1 (new)
Create a Union-wide tax authority, similarly to OLAF, in charge of investigations of the 250 biggest companies operating in Europe and their subsidiaries.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 365 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 5 – indent 2 – introductory part
Ensure that a parent company and its subsidiaries located in the Union are audited by their respective tax authorities at the same period of time, under the leadershipcoordination and the support of the Union tax authorities of the parent company, in order to ensure efficient cooperation and flows of information between tax authorities. As part of this:
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 366 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 5 – indent 2 – point 1
Tax authorities should regularly report to the Union tax authority and exchange information on their investigations in order to ensure that groups do not benefit from mismatches or loopholes in the combination of various national tax systems.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 368 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 2 – subtitle 5 – indent 2 a (new)
Monitoring that national tax administrations are endowed with proper funding and staff in line with the recommendation already provided with respect to National Competition Authorities in the framework of the European Semester.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 378 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 1 – indent 3 a (new)
The Commission should develop a Union approach for tax treaties, according to the UN guidelines, for discussion with developing countries.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 379 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 1 – indent 3 b (new)
The Commission and Member States should support a greater role for the United Nations in future international tax discussions, for instance by supporting the creation of a global tax body under the auspices of the United Nations.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 380 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 2 – title
Recommendation C2. Create a common definition of ‘tax havens’ and of harmful preferential tax regimes
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 382 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 2 – introductory part
The European Parliament calls on the European Commission to bring forward a proposal to establish, in cooperation with the OECD and the UN among others, criteria to define ‘tax havens’. and harmful preferential tax regimes:
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 385 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 2 – indent 1 a (new)
• A definition of harmful preferential tax regimes characterised by: ° No or very low nominal tax on the relevant income; ° Negotiable tax rate or tax bases; Artificial definition of tax bases; ° Unfair legal provisions and practices aimed at favouring the establishment of shell companies, disconnection of legal and beneficial ownership, attracting real investment; ° Well-established financial links with offshore jurisdictions ° Private wealth management;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 395 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 4 – title
Recommendation C4. Permanent EstablishmentUnion anti-BEPs legislation
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 396 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 4 – introductory part
The European Parliament calls on to the European Commission to bring forward a legislative proposal to introduce a comprehensive Union anti BEPS legislation to:
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 397 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 4 – indent -1 (new) – introductory part
review the concept of Permanent Establishment so as:
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 400 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 4 – indent 2
° To introduce a Union definition of minimum ‘economic substance’ covering also the digital economy.
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 410 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 7 – indent 2 a (new)
Allowing Member States legislation to include provisions take into account companies’ tax policies and behaviour as a relevant factor in public procurement contracts;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 411 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 7 – indent 2 b (new)
Assessing the possibility of modifying the existing rules in order to allow the amounts recovered following an infringement of Union state aid rules to be allocated preferably to the Union budget or returned to the Member States which have suffered from an erosion of their tax bases, and not to the Member State which granted the illegal tax-related aid, as is currently the case;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 412 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 3 – subtitle 7 – introductory part a (new)
The European Parliament calls on the Commission to: • Modify the existing rules to ensure punitive sanctions can be adopted against the relevant countries and companies in case of breach of state aid rules; • Urgently enact changes to its horizontal rules for expert groups with a view to ensure policy making in the public interest by effectively shielding law making processes from the influence of specific private interests;
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON
Amendment 430 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex – title 4 – subtitle 1 – indent 5 a (new)
a comprehensive revision of Directive 90/435/EEC and Directive 2003/49/EC to plug all loopholes facilitating corporate tax dodging and to introduce effective minimum tax rates as called for by previous European Parliament resolutions
2015/10/13
Committee: ECON