Activites

• 1994/11/21 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1994/10/24 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
  • T4-0045/1994 summary

    - The European Parliament deplored the fact that tax harmonization measures required unanimity in the Council. Given the problems faced by SMEs, especially as regards VAT, the European Parliament called for progress to be made in finalizing the VAT system and for plans to be made to introduce a reduced rate for certain labour-intensive services. It called on the Commission to adopt compulsory measures for Member States which did not comply with its suggested tax harmonization measures. - On financing, the European Parliament pointed out that companies limited by shares were not always the most suitable legal form and that provision therefore needed to be made for a suitable and equivalent tax status for sole proprietorships and partnerships. - As regards complex administration, the resolution called on the Commission to examine the possibility of making enterprises subject to the tax legislation of the Member State in which they are registered. In order to avoid any risk of fiscal dumping, this measure would be confined to enterprises below a certain size. The European Parliament: - called on the Commission to coordinate the campaign against parallel economies in the Member States; - called on the Commission to deal with other sectors of interest to SMEs as quickly as possible and to formulate recommendations on the taxation of EEIGs, the taxation of partnerships and the concept of "business angels"; - urged the Commission to study possible financing techniques to strengthen SMEs' own resources; - called on the Commission to propose measures to reduce the number of jobs which may be lost, for various reasons, when ownership of prosperous SMEs is transferred; - trusted that the limitation on the tax on profits reinvested by sole proprietorships and partnerships which are subject to income tax would only apply where profits were ploughed back in order to safeguard or create jobs.�

• 1994/10/12 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0024/1994
• 1994/07/21 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1994/05/25 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1994)0206 summary

    The purpose of this communication is to set out the Commission's approach to the taxation of SMEs. It contains guidelines on how to create a more lenient tax environment for SMEs, in order to encourage new SMEs and foster their subsequent development. Only aspects of direct taxation are addressed here; measures relating to indirect taxation are due to be tabled by the end of 1994, mainly in the light of the reports and proposals submitted during the review of the VAT system. The communication identifies three main problems: - the need to attract sufficient financial resources, both from self-financing and from venture capital. As far as self-financing is concerned, the Community approach, as reflected in the work of the Ruding committee in 1990, is to limit the tax liability on profits ploughed back. As far as the taxation of venture capital is concerned, the Commission is currently conducting a survey in the Member States, following which it will be in a position to table a recommendation based on the best practices; - complex administration, especially in the case of transnational activities: the recommendation suggests taxation solely in the state of registration as one possible solution, although it does admit that a number of precautions will need to be taken in order to prevent abuse; - continuing trading in the event of transfer of ownership: the Commission promises to issue a guideline on reducing the tax liability on successions and donations where the enterprise continues to trade. It also plans to find ways of resolving problems of double taxation which may arise where ownership is transferred abroad. The Commission promises to organize far-reaching consultations with the Member States and other interested parties on all these questions.�

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1994)0206
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0024/1994
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0045/1994

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)