2016/2038(INI) | [ParlTrack]

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Citation 9

– having regard to the ECOFIN conclusions on corporate tax avoidance/anti-avoidance rules of 25 May 2016, on corporate tax avoidance of 8 March 2016, on corporate taxation, base erosion and profit shifting of 8 December 2015, and on taxation policy of 1 December 1997, as well as the note of the informal ECOFIN discussion of the Panama Papers on 22 April 2016,

Amendment 10 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Citation 32

– having regards to the state aid decisions of the Commission relating to Fiat16 , Starbucks17 , and the Belgian excess-profit rulings18 , and decisions to open state aid investigations on McDonalds, Apple and Amazon; __________________ 16 SA.38375 - State aid which Luxembourg granted to Fiat. 17 SA.38374 State aid implemented by the Netherlands to Starbucks. 18 C(2015)9837, Commission Decision of 11 January 2016 on the excess profit exemption state aid scheme SA.37667 (2015/C) (ex 2015/NN) implemented by Belgium.

Amendment 100 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital L

L. whereas some financial institutions have played a role as intermediaries in setting up complex legal structures leading to aggressive tax planning schemes used by MNEs, as evidenced in ‘LuxLeaks’ and the ‘Panama Papers’; whereas legal loopholes and lack of coordination, cooperation and transparency between countries create an environment that facilitates tax evasion; whereas banks could have played a positive role in combating the erosion of national tax bases by, for instance, using the means of exchange of information at their disposal in a more cooperative spirit; whereas this shows the need for a firmly regulated and public financial sector in order to guarantee that it works effectively for tackling BEPS;

Amendment 101 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital L

L. whereas some financial institutions have played a role as intermediaries in setting up complex legal structures leading to aggressive tax planning schemes used by MNEs, as evidenced in ‘LuxLeaks’ and the ‘Panama Papers’; whereas legal loopholes, mismatches and lack of coordination, cooperation and transparency between countries create an environment that facilitates tax evasion; whereas ~~banks could have played a positive role in combat~~financial institutions are nevertheless key and indispensable auxiliaries ing the ~~erosion of national tax bases by, for instance, using the means of exchange of~~fight against tax fraud, due to the financial account and beneficial ownership information they have at their disposal ~~in a more cooperative spirit~~and whereas it is therefore crucial that they fully and effectively cooperate in the exchange of such information;

Amendment 102 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital L

L. whereas some ~~financial institution~~tax advisers, banks, law and accountancy firms and other intermediaries have played a role as intermediaries in setting up complex legal structures leading to aggressive tax planning schemes used by MNEs, as evidenced in ‘LuxLeaks’ and the ‘Panama Papers’; whereas legal loopholes and lack of coordination, cooperation and transparency between countries create an environment that facilitates tax evasion; whereas banks could have played a positive role in combating the erosion of national tax bases by, for instance, using the means of exchange of information at their disposal in a more cooperative spirit;

Amendment 103 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital L

L. whereas some financial institutions and accounting or law firms have played a role as intermediaries in setting up complex legal structures leading to aggressive tax planning schemes used by MNEs, as evidenced in ‘'LuxLeaks’' and the ‘'Panama Papers’'; whereas legal loopholes and lack of coordination, cooperation and transparency between countries create an environment that facilitates tax evasion and avoidance; whereas banks cshould ~~have~~ played a positive role in combating t~~he erosion of national tax bases by, for instance, using the means of exchange of information at their disposal in a more cooperative spirit~~ax evasion and avoidance by, for instance, applying strong due diligence rules and by collecting information for tax authorities about their clients;

Amendment 104 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)

La. whereas several tax scandals involving banks became public during the timeframe of this investigation; whereas financial institutions can use several aggressive tax planning schemes to support their clients to evade or avoid taxes; whereas banks can act on the market on behalf of their clients and claim to be the beneficial owner of these transactions towards tax authorities, leading to clients unduly benefiting from tax advantages granted to banks by reason of their banking status or of their residence; whereas the role of banks (particularly those with investment banking operations) in designing and implementing aggressive tax planning should be considered as dual: first, in providing aggressive tax planning for use by clients - often using financial products such as loans, derivatives, repos or any equity-linked instruments - and second, in the use of aggressive tax planning themselves - through their own inter-bank and proprietary structured finance transactions;

Amendment 105 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital L b (new)

Lb. whereas all banks appearing in front of the Special Committee officially denied advising their clients to evade or avoid taxes in any form whatsoever and denied having relations with accounting and law firms for that purpose; whereas however banks often seek legal opinions from accounting or consultancy firms to validate contracts they offer to their clients; whereas these paid legal opinions can be used to cover tax evasion operations and to avoid allegations of intentional fraud by the banks;

Amendment 106 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital M

M. whereas major financial institutions have set up an important number of subsidiaries in special tax jurisdictions or in jurisdictions with low or very low corporate tax rates in order to avoid taxes on behalf of their corporate and private clients or for their own benefit; whereas some financial institutions have recently closed down some of their branches in those jurisdictions; whereas several financial institutions have been prosecuted for tax evasion, avoidance or money laundering in the United States, leading to the payments of substantial fines but very few prosecutions have been started in the European Union;

Amendment 107 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital M

M. whereas some major financial institutions have set up subsidiaries in special tax jurisdictions or in jurisdictions with low or very low corporate tax rates; whereas ~~some~~a number of financial institutions have recently closed down some of their branches in those jurisdictions;

Amendment 108 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital M a (new)

Ma. whereas banks are operating in a competitive market and are incentivised to promote tax attractive schemes in order to attract new clients and serve existing ones; whereas bank employees are often under enormous pressure to validate clients' contracts allowing for tax evasion and avoidance at the risk of being fired if they do not; whereas there are conflicts of interest and revolving door cases between banks top employees, consultancy firms and representatives of tax administrations; whereas tax administrations do not always have sufficient access to information or means to investigate banks and detect cases of tax evasion;

Amendment 109 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital M a (new)

Ma. whereas many of the banks and financial institutions involved in tax evasion were rescued during the 2008 financial crisis with the use of taxpayer money, makes their conduct in tax matters even more despicable.

Amendment 11 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1

Overall considerations ~~and establishment of fact~~, facts and figures

Amendment 110 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital M b (new)

Mb. whereas it is important to acknowledge that not all complex structured finance transactions (CSFTs) have a dominant tax motivation, and that predominantly tax-driven products are only a small part of overall CSFT business; whereas the amounts involved in aggressive tax planning transactions can however be very large, with single deals involving sometimes funding of €billions and tax advantages of €100s millions 1a ; whereas revenue authorities are concerned with the lack of transparency of CSFTs that are used for aggressive tax planning purposes, particularly where separate legs of these arrangements are executed in different jurisdictions; __________________ 1aOECD, 2008, "Study into the role of tax intermediaries"; OECD, 2008, "Study into the role of tax intermediaries"; http://www.oecd.org/tax/administration/39 882938.pdf

Amendment 111 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital N

N. whereas the biggest European banks are already subject to public country-by-country reporting requirements; whereas a study prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Commission in 2014 found that such requirements had a positive impact on the transparency and accountability of, and public confidence in, the financial services sector in the EU; whereas that same study found that public country-by- country reporting requirements had no noticeable negative economic consequences for financial institutions, nor any negative impact on competitiveness, investment and credit availability or the stability of the financial system; whereas none of the financial institutions which appeared in front of the Special Committee raised any significant objection with regard to the disclosure requirements; whereas some of them clearly said they were in favour of this requirement and would support it becoming a global standard;

Amendment 112 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital N

N. whereas the biggest European banks are already subject to public country-by-country reporting requirements; whereas none of the financial institutions which appeared in front of the Special Committee raised any significant objection with regard to the disclosure requirements; whereas some of them clearly said they were in favour of this requirement and would support it becoming a global standard; whereas the CRD IV reporting requirements for financial institutions leave room for improvement as the data reporting is inconsistent between various EU countries and the reporting requirements are differently interpreted by various financial institutions;

Amendment 113 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital N

N. whereas ~~the biggest European bank~~EU credit institutions are already subject to public country-by- country reporting requirements under the CRD IV; whereas none of the financial institutions which appeared in front of the Special Committee raised any significant objection with regard to the disclosure requirements; whereas some of them clearly said they were in favour of this requirement and would support it becoming a global standard; whereas, nevertheless, the risk that, for some small companies operating in other sectors and whose geographical scope of activities is more limited, the information required might cause a competitive disadvantage should not be discarded,;

Amendment 114 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital N

N. whereas the biggest European banks are already subject to public country-by-country reporting requirements; whereas it should be noted that there have been some gaps in these country-by- country reports and that these gaps should be addressed; whereas none of the financial institutions which appeared in front of the Special Committee raised any significant objection with regard to the disclosure requirements; whereas some of them clearly said they were in favour of this requirement and would support it becoming a global standard;

Amendment 115 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital N

N. whereas the biggest European banks are already subject to public country-by-country reporting requirements; whereas none of the financial institutions which appeared in front of the Special Committee raised any significant objection with regard to the disclosure requirements; whereas some of them clearly said they were in favour of this requirement and would support it becoming a global standardthese reporting requirements are not implemented nor likely to be implemented on the international level;

Amendment 116 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital P

P. whereas banks and MNEs which appeared before the Special Committee did not fully answer all the questions of its members~~, and~~; whereas the questions asked were complex and covered a wide range of issues; whereas some of the issues raised therefore remained unanswered or ill- defined; whereas some of them sent written contributions (see Annex 2) at a later stage;

Amendment 117 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital P a (new)

Pa. whereas the European Union has greater powers in the field of financial and banking regulation than in the field of company taxation, which remains a prerogative of the Member States;

Amendment 118 #

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Recital Q

Q. whereas schemes linked to intellectual property, patents and research and development (R&D) are widely used across the Union; whereas these are to a considerable extent used by MNEs to artificially reduce their overall tax contribution; whereas it should be analysed how tax incentives can be used to stimulate much needed R&D and innovation in the EU without the perverse effect of serving as a tool to artificially reduce tax contributions; whereas the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) action plan (action No 5) refers to the ‘Modified Nexus Approach’; whereas the role of the Code of Conduct Group is also to analyse and effectively monitor such practices in Member States;

Amendment 119 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital Q

Q. whereas ~~schem~~tax incentives linked to intellectual property, patents and research and development (R&D) are widely used across the Union and are multiplying; whereas these ~~are~~can be easily used by MNEs to artificially reduce their overall tax contribution; whereas the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) action plan (action No 5) refers to the ‘Modified Nexus Approach’; whereas the role of the Code of Conduct Group is also to analyse and effectively monitor such practices in Member States;

Amendment 12 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital -A (new)

-A. whereas capitalistic globalisation and the free movement of capital, the latter triggered in EU by the establishment of the single market, created the perfect conditions for the design of base erosion and profit shifting schemes and, at the same time, enshrined a structural bias in policy making to the benefit of capital owners and MNEs; whereas this has been promoting divergences and asymmetries between countries and social classes;

Amendment 120 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital R

R. whereas ~~Member States could still gr~~the Code of Conduct Group analysed Europeant patent boxes ~~until June 2016; whereas they are obliged to implement the OECD BEPS proposal for the m~~regimes but did not conclude its analysis on specific regimes; whereas in the meantime, the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) action plan (action No 5) refers to the 'Modified Nexus Approach' as the new standard for granting R&D incentives; whereas Member States agreed in the Code of Conduct Group to implement the Modified ‘Nexus Approach~~’ on patent boxes until 2021 as agreed at Code of Conduct Group~~ in their national legislation as of 2015; whereas they also agree that existing patent box schemes should be phased out by 2021 only; whereas Member States are seriously delayed in the implementation of the Modified Nexus Approach at national level;

Amendment 121 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital S

S. whereas several studies from the Commission have clearly shown that the link between the patent box and R&D is in most cases arbitrary and/or artificial; whereas this inconsistency may lead to the assumption that these schemes are in most cases set up for tax avoidance reasons; whereas tax incentives for incomes generated by R&D, chiefly patent boxes, often result in large decreases in tax revenue for all governments, including those engaging in such a policy; whereas the OECD and the IMF also confirmed several times that they do not believe patent boxes to be the right tool to promote R&D; whereas the IMF is calling for a rationalisation of tax incentives in advanced economies;

Amendment 122 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital S

S. whereas several studies from the Commission have clearly shown that the link between the patent box and R&D is in most cases arbitrary and/or artificial, given that there is no direct relationship between the tax advantages and the underlying R&D activities; whereas this inconsistency may lead to the assumption that these schemes are in most cases set up for tax avoidance reasons; whereas tax incentives for incomes generated by R&D, chiefly patent boxes, often result in large decreases in tax revenue for all governments, including those engaging in such a policy;

Amendment 123 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital S

S. whereas several studies from the Commission have ~~clearly~~ shown that the link between the patent box and R&D ~~is in most cases~~can be arbitrary and/or artificial; ~~whereas this inconsistency may lead to the assumption that these schemes are in most cases set up for tax avoidance reasons;~~ whereas tax incentives for incomes generated by R&D, chiefly patent boxes, ~~ofte~~can result in large decreases in tax revenue for ~~all~~ governments~~, including those engaging in such a policy~~; notes that European Commission studies have demonstrated that there are substantial opportunities for improving R&D tax structures across the EU, particularly in relation to the scope and organisation of such tax structures;

Amendment 124 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital S

S. whereas several studies from the Commission have clearly shown that the link between the patent box and R&D is ~~in most cases arbitrary and/or artificial~~not always straightforward; whereas this inconsistency may lead to the ~~assumption that these schemes are in most cases set up~~se schemes being used for tax avoidance ~~reason~~purposes; whereas tax incentives for incomes generated by R&D, chiefly patent boxes, often result in large decreases in tax revenue for all governments, including those engaging in such a policy;

Amendment 125 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital S

S. whereas several studies from the Commission have clearly shown that the link between the patent box and R&D ~~is in most cases~~can be arbitrary and/or artificial; whereas this inconsistency may lead to the assumption that these schemes are in most cases set up for tax avoidance reasons; whereas tax incentives for incomes generated by R&D, chiefly patent boxes, often result in large decreases in tax revenue for all governments, including those engaging in such a policy;

Amendment 126 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital S a (new)

Sa. whereas R and D expenditures and intellectual property creation should be appropriately factored in when taxing EU companies in order to promote R and D and innovation in the EU;

Amendment 127 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital T

T. whereas the central role of patent boxes in harmful tax practices schemes was initially observed in the fact-finding missions of Parliament’'s previous Special Committee (TAXE 1) in the Netherlands and the UK, and subsequently confirmed in its mission to Cyprus; whereas similar systems exist ~~in other Member States~~or have been announced in other Member States (Belgium, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and Spain (including Basque country and the region of Navarra));

Amendment 128 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital T a (new)

Ta. whereas patent boxes and similar preferential tools are just one element fuelling downward pressure on corporate tax rates; whereas the Treaties and EU legislation, such as the Parent-Subsidiary and Interest and Royalties Directives, create a problematic asymmetry by prioritising the free movement of capital and business establishment without the necessary policy instruments to ensure coordination, cooperation and transparency in corporate taxation; whereas this is exemplified by ECJ judgements which have prevented Member States from applying robust defence measures (e.g. CFC rules or exit taxation) against aggressive tax planning on the grounds of the fundamental freedoms of the internal market1a; whereas this type of integration enshrines a structural bias to the benefit of investors and corporations operating across borders; __________________ 1aFor instance, judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 12 September 2006. Cadbury Schweppes plc and Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Ltd v Commissioners of Inland Revenue. and case C-9/02 Hughes de Lasteyrie du Saillant v. Ministère de l'Économie, des Finances et de l'Industrie, OJ C 94, 17.04.2004

Amendment 129 #

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Recital T a (new)

Ta. whereas one solution to the problem might be to establish common European definitions on what can and cannot be considered to be promotion of R&D; whereas a certain degree of harmonisation must be brought in as regards the use of favourable tax schemes for patents and innovation, in order to reduce the tax competition between Member States that has been established in this area;

Amendment 13 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital -A a (new)

-Aa. whereas the introduction of the single market in the EU has proved, on one hand, highly beneficial to MNEs, and, on the other, highly prejudicial to the desirable economic and social convergence between Member States;

Amendment 130 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital T a (new)

Ta. whereas the costs of research and development can already be offset against tax under the national tax systems even without patent boxes, and whereas patent boxes thus contribute to tax avoidance in a way that runs counter to the system;

Amendment 131 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital T b (new)

Tb. whereas a particularly pressing problem arises through the outright lack of any harmonised approach among Member States on the issue of outbound payments; whereas in this current, uncoordinated framework, the combination of a removal of source taxation under the Interest and Royalties and Parent-Subsidiary Directives with a lack of withholding taxes on dividend, licence and royalty fee and interest outbound payments in some Member States creates loopholes whereby profits can effectively flow from any Member State out of the Union without being subject to tax at least once;

Amendment 132 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 5

Documents from the Code of Conduct Group ~~document~~on business taxation, the High Level Working Group on taxation and the Working Party on tax questions

Amendment 133 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital V

V. whereas it was only five months after the beginning of the term of its Special Committee that ~~some R~~non-redacted sensitive room documents and minutes of the Code of Conduct Group were made available to MEPs in camera on EP premises; whereas, while additional documents have been made available, some documents and minutes still remain undisclosed or missing; whereas the Commission stated at an informal meeting that it has made all the documents at its disposal available to the Special Committee and any further relevant meeting documents, should they ever have been in the Commission’s possession, must therefore have been lost;

Amendment 134 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital V

V. whereas it was only five months after the beginning of the term of its Special Committee that some Room documents and minutes of the Code of Conduct Group were made available to MEPs in camera on EP premises; whereas, while additional documents have been made available, some documents and minutes still remain undisclosed or missing; whereas the Commission stated at an informal meeting that it has made all the documents originating from the Commission and at its disposal available to the Special Committee and any further relevant meeting documents originating from the Commission , should they ever have been in the Commission’s possession, must therefore have been lost;

Amendment 135 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital V

V. whereas it was only five months after the beginning of the term of its Special Committee that some Room documents and minutes of the Code of Conduct Group were made available to MEPs in camera on EP premises; whereas, while additional documents have been made available, some documents and minutes still remain un~~disclosed or missing~~available; whereas the Commission stated at an informal meeting that it has made all the documents at its disposal available to the Special Committee and any further relevant meeting documents, should they ever have been in the Commission’s possession, must therefore have been lost;

Amendment 136 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital V a (new)

Va. whereas, while additional documents have been made available, some documents and minutes of the Code of Conduct Group still remain undisclosed or missing; whereas the Commission stated at an informal meeting that it has made all the documents at its disposal available to the Special Committee and any further relevant meeting documents, should they ever have been in the Commission's possession, must therefore have been lost; whereas additional room documents - originating from the member states or the council - have not been transmitted to the European Parliament, despite several requests; whereas several of the documents transmitted to the Parliament have also been made public, either on a Commission's website or through access to documents' requests; whereas documents from the High Level Working Group on taxation and the Working Party on tax questions have been made available at the end of the Special Committee's mandate; whereas the practice of regularly sending information from tax discussions in other institutions to Parliament should be institutionalised beyond the lifetime of the Special Committee;

Amendment 137 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital V a (new)

Va. whereas, in addition to untraceable Commission documents, a large number of CoCG room documents, originating from the CoCG Chair, Member States or other stakeholders and in the Commission's possession, have not been made available to MEPs yet;

Amendment 138 #

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Recital W

W. whereas Member States have given unsatisfactory answers to Parliament’s repeated requests for full disclosure of the documents concerned; whereas this practice has been going on for several months; whereas these documents ~~have nonetheless recently been made availabl~~were provided to researchers of the University of Amsterdam after a request based on the European transparency directive; whereas these documents have nonetheless recently been made available, but only on a confidential basis and cannot be used in the public debate; whereas transparency and access to information are essential elements of parliamentary work;

Amendment 139 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital W

Amendment 14 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital -A b (new)

-Ab. whereas while governments issued tax rulings favouring MNEs they were at the same time increasing labour taxes, asking for wage reductions and cutting public services (namely social security, health and education);

Amendment 140 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital W a (new)

Wa. whereas specific issues have been examined within the Code of Conduct Group without leading to concrete reforms; whereas for example, discussions on rulings have been going one since 1999 at least and there are still difficulties in implementing recommendations agreed, even after the Luxleaks scandal; whereas examination of patent box regimes has never been fully concluded in 2014 and no other examination has started, despite member states being late in implementing the new Modified Nexus Approach;

Amendment 141 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital X

X. whereas the OECD, the UN and other international organisations are interested parties in the fight against corporate tax base erosion; whereas there is a need to ensure global harmonisation of practices and implementation of common standards such as those proposed by the OECD vis-à-vis the BEPS package; whereas the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors held in Washington on 14 and 15 April 2016 ~~concluded in favour of initiating implementation of the BEPS measures, and has called for full financial transparency, especially as regards beneficial ownership~~reiterated its calls for all countries and jurisdictions to implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards on transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements; whereas some G20 members have called for automatic information exchange of beneficial ownership information and requested FATF and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes to make initial proposals to that effect by October 2016;

Amendment 142 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital X

X. whereas the OECD, the UN and other international organisations are interested parties in the fight against corporate tax base erosion; whereas there is a need to ensure global harmonisation of practices and implementation of common standards such as those proposed by the OECD vis-à-vis the BEPS package; whereas such global standards should be negotiated and monitored by an intergovernmental forum at UN level with less selective membership than the OECD or G20 so as to allow all countries, including developing countries, to take part on an equal footing; whereas the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors held in Washington on 14 and 15 April 2016 concluded in favour of initiating implementation of the BEPS measures, and has called for full financial transparency, especially as regards beneficial ownership;

Amendment 143 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital X a (new)

Xa. whereas as observed during the fact finding mission in the US, there is a lack of transparency and of a common definition of beneficial ownership at global level; whereas this lack of transparency has been especially observed regarding shell companies and law firms; whereas the US is currently preparing the implementation of the OECD BEPS Action Plan;

Amendment 144 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital X a (new)

Xa. whereas the BEPS process did not include developing countries as equal negotiating partners and failed to deliver effective solutions to poorest countries' tax problems, including the global network of tax treaties that often impedes developing countries from taxing profits generated in their territory;

Amendment 145 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital X b (new)

Xb. whereas cooperation on tax issues between the EU and the US already exists between relevant EU and US authorities, similar cooperation is lacking at the political level, especially as regards parliamentary cooperation;

Amendment 146 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital Y

Y. whereas a Symposium on Taxation is planned for July 2016 with a view to achieving strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth; whereas the G20 has called on all international organisations, including the EU, to meet the challenges concerned;deleted

Amendment 147 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital Y a (new)

Ya. whereas the joint Special Committee TAXE 2 and Committee on Development hearing on "Consequences for developing countries of aggressive fiscal practices" has shown that developing countries face similar problems of base erosion, profit shifting, lack of transparency, globally diverging tax systems and lack of coherent and effective international legislation; whereas developing countries suffer from aggressive tax planning; whereas developing countries' tax administrations lack resources and expertise to effectively fight tax evasion and avoidance;

Amendment 148 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital Y a (new)

Ya. whereas at their meeting of 14 and 15 April 2016, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors have reiterated their commitment to timely and widespread implementation of the G20/OECD BEPS package and encouraged all relevant and interested countries and jurisdictions to quickly join in the new framework; whereas at the same meeting, they reiterated the high priority they attached to financial transparency and effective implementation of the standards on transparency by all, in particular with regard to beneficial ownership information;

Amendment 149 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital Z

Z. whereas the G20 members have reaffirmed their commitment to ensure that efforts are made to strengthen the capacities of developing countries’ economies and to encourage developed countries to abide by the principles of the Addis Tax Initiative as set out at the UN meeting of 27 July 2015; whereas developing countries’ views and priorities are essential to effective global coordination;

Amendment 15 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas the ‘Panama Papers’ and ‘LuxLeaks’ scandals, as revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), have shown the urgent need for the EU and its Member States to fight tax evasion and avoidance and act for increased cooperation and transparency in order to re-establish tax justice, prevent money laundering and combat organised crime, including terrorism;

Amendment 150 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital Z a (new)

Za. whereas the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank provide technical assistance, including tools for developing countries' tax administrations regarding international tax issues in order to improve developing countries' capability to tackling tax evasion, avoidance and money laundering issues, in particular related to transfer pricing;

Amendment 151 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital Z a (new)

Za. whereas global tax reforms and international tax cooperation within an intergovernmental UN body are key to strengthening the domestic collection of corporate income tax, especially from MNEs;

Amendment 152 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital AA a (new)

AAa. whereas all States and international players should strive to be fully in line with OECD recommendations when reforming their tax systems in order not to create new mismatches;

Amendment 153 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital AB

AB. whereas a number of measures proposed by the Commission are a direct follow-up of Parliament’s resolutions of 16 December 2015 and 25 November 2015; whereas important initiatives included therein have thus now been put forward by the Commission, at least partially; whereas other critical measures called for in said resolutions are still lacking, such as, amongst others, a reform of the fiscal state aid framework, effective legal provisions for the protection of whistleblowers and measures to curb assistance to and promotion of aggressive tax planning by advisors and the financial sector;

Amendment 154 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital AC

AC. whereas the implications for the Union have been analysed and assessed in particular by Parliament’s Special Committee on tax rulings and other measures similar in nature (TAXE 1), whose work resulted in a resolution being adopted with overwhelming majority on 25 November 2015; whereas the Parliament's resolution of 16 December 2015 was adopted with a similarly overwhelming majority; whereas the Commission issued a joint reply to the resolutions of 16 December 2015 and 25 November 2015;

Amendment 155 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital AC

AC. whereas the implications for the Union have been analysed and assessed in particular by Parliament’s Special Committee on tax rulings and other measures similar in nature (TAXE 1), whose work resulted in a resolution being adopted ~~with overwhelming majority~~ on 25 November 2015; whereas the Commission issued a joint reply to the resolutions of 16 December 2015 and 25 November 2015;

Amendment 156 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO

Motion for a resolution
Recital AD

AD. whereas Parliament’s Special Committee TAXE 2, constituted on 2 December 2015, held 11 meetings, some of them jointly with the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Development, at which it heard the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, the Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Pierre Moscovici, the Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, Jonathan Hill, the Dutch State Secretary for Finance, Eric Wiebes (representing the Council Presidency), experts in the field of taxation and development, representatives of multinational companies (MNCs), representatives of banks, and members of national parliaments of the EU; whereas it also held meetings with representatives of the Governments of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Guernsey and Jersey, and received a written contribution from the Government of the Isle of Man (see Annex 1); whereas it also organised fact-finding missions to the US (Washington), to look into specific aspects of the third-country dimension of its mandate, and to Cyprus; whereas members of the Special Committee were personally invited to take part in the work of the high- level interparliamentary group ‘TAXE’ of the OECD; whereas the Special Committee held in camera meetings at coordinators’ level at which it heard representatives of the Government of the Cayman Islands, investigative journalists and Commission officials; whereas all these activities, which have provided a wealth of very useful information on practices and tax systems both inside and outside the Union, have helped to clarify some of the relevant issues, while others remain unanswered;

Amendment 157 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital AD a (new)

ADa. whereas, despite what was called for in the final report of TAXE I regarding the inconsistencies in the statements by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker concerning the page in the Krecké report which for a long time was kept secret, it was decided not to hear Mr Juncker again;

Amendment 158 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital AE

AE. whereas the work of the Special Committee was hindered to some extent by the fact that out of 7 MNCs invited, only 4 agreed on first invitation to appear before its members (see Annex 2); whereas insufficient exchanges were held with political representatives of Member States with a view to discussing and assessing Member States' tax policies as well as political positions in Council fora dealing with tax matters, both of which having the potential to impede necessary coordination, corporation and transparency in corporate tax matters in the EU;

Amendment 159 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital AE

AE. whereas the work of the Special Committee was hindered ~~to some extent~~ by the fact that out of 7 MNCs invited, only 4 agreed on first invitation to appear before its members (see Annex 2);

Amendment 16 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas the ‘Panama Papers’ and ‘LuxLeaks’ ~~scandals, as revealed~~revelations, as made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), have shown the urgent need for the EU and its Member States to fight tax evasion and avoidance and act for increased cooperation and transparency in order to ~~re-establish tax justice~~make our tax systems fairer and ensure that corporate taxes are paid where value is created;

Amendment 160 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital AE a (new)

AEa. Whereas many of these banks and multinationals merely stated, in their hearings, that they scrupulously complied with the tax rules in force, refusing to accept their share of the responsibility for the scandals or admit their clear intention to circumvent tax laws through artificial arrangements; whereas they thereby openly expressed defiance of the sovereignty of the States and the authority of the European Parliament;

Amendment 161 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital AE a (new)

AEa. whereas, due to the continued refusal of the Commission and the Council to consent to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament on the detailed provisions governing the exercise of the European Parliament's right of inquiry, the European Parliament's special and inquiry committees still enjoy insufficient competencies, such as the right to summon witnesses and enforce document access, when compared to Member State parliaments and the US Congress;

Amendment 162 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital AE a (new)

AEa. whereas the activities of the Special Committee were not facilitated by the format chosen for the hearings, which made it impossible to go into certain issues in depth and to obtain satisfactory answers;

Amendment 163 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital AE a (new)

AEa. whereas with regard to tax issues the Council has recently on multiple occasions adopted comprehensive prior political positions without taking into account or even awaiting the positions of the European Parliament;

Amendment 164 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

~~1. Reiterates the conclusions of its resolution of 25 November 2015;~~deleted

Amendment 165 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Reiterates the conclusions of its resolution of 25 November 2015; and calls on the competent standing committee to follow up on all recommendations made by the TAXE 1 and TAXE 2 special committees; calls, to that end, for the establishment of a standing subcommittee with a remit covering all tax policies in the Union;

Amendment 166 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Reiterates the conclusions of its resolution of 25 November 2015 and of its resolution of 16 December 2015;

Amendment 167 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 9

Follow-up by the Commission and Member States

Amendment 168 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Regrets that thirteen countries do not have proper rules to counter aggressive tax planning based on tax-free- flow-through of dividends and thirteen member states did not apply any beneficial-owner test when accepting a claim for a reduction or exemption of withholding tax; Regrets that so far, fourteen member states still have no controlled foreign company rules to prevent aggressive tax planning and that twenty-five member states have no rules to counter the mismatching tax qualification of a local company by another state; condemns that no single member state has called for a ban on aggressive tax planning structures so far;

Amendment 169 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Considers that the Directive on Administrative Cooperative, after having undergone two consecutive and ad-hoc modifications on automatic exchange on tax rulings and Country by Country Reporting, should be reviewed in its entirety, particularly but not only in order to reduce and eventually eliminate the current exceptions to the principle of exchange of information;

Amendment 17 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas the ‘'Panama Papers’' and ‘'LuxLeaks’' scandals, as revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), have shown the urgent need for the EU and its Member States to fight tax evasion and avoidance and act for increased cooperation and transparency in order to re-establish tax ~~justice~~fairness for citizens and fair competition between companies;

Amendment 170 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Calls on Member States and the Commission to adopt further legislative proposals on corporate tax avoidance as scope exists for member states to tighten their anti-abuse rules to counter base erosion; strongly regrets that Member States did not discuss the Parliament's recommendations in any Council working group and did not reflect on the breach of their obligation of sincere cooperation under the Treaty through enabling aggressive tax avoidance and tax evasion in other member states;

Amendment 171 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Condemns that twenty-four Member States offer a general deductibility of interest costs without making it conditional on the creditor being taxed on the interest income and/or without imposing the full scale of thin- capitalisation or other interest-limitation rules, interest withholding tax or a beneficial-owner test as a condition for withholding tax exemptions in the context of group financing;

Amendment 172 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Welcomes the Anti-tax Avoidance Package (ATAP) published by the Commission on 28 January 2016, as well as all legislative proposals and communications already undertaken afterwards; calls on the Council to reach a unanimous position on the ATAP and keep the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive as one single directive; welcomes the initiative to create a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions in the External Strategy for Effective Taxation; reiterates its position that more and binding action is needed to effectively and systematically combat BEPS; invites the Commission to consider extending the interest limitation rule to licence fee and royalty costs and making these costs' tax deductibility contingent on the level of effective taxation of the corresponding revenue in the country of destination; calls on Member States to particularly agree on strong, comprehensive and enforceable CFC rules and to discard rules which are limited to somehow defined non-genuine arrangements the burden of proof for which is put on tax authorities;

Amendment 173 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Welcomes the Anti-tax Avoidance Package (ATAP) published by the Commission on 28 January 2016, as well as all legislative proposals and communications already undertaken afterwards; ~~calls on the Council to reach a unanimous~~welcomes the adoption by the Council of the Directive amending the Directive on Administrative Cooperation in order to establish non-public Country by Country reporting, while regretting that the Council did not wait to know and consider the position onf the ~~ATAP and k~~European Parliament before agreeing on its own position and did not foreseep the ~~Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive as one singl~~involvement of the Commission in the exchange of information; calls on the Council to reach a unanimous position on the Anti-Tax Avoidance dDirective; welcomes the initiative to create a common Union definition and list of uncooperative jurisdictions in the External Strategy for Effective Taxation;

Amendment 174 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Welcomes the Anti-tax Avoidance Package (ATAP) published by the Commission on 28 January 2016, as well as all legislative proposals and communications already undertaken afterwards; calls on the Council to reach a unanimous position on the ATAP and keep the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive as one single directive, and at the same time reminds the Council that all these measures, in addition to contributing to the implementation of the BEPS plan at EU level, must be seen as intermediate steps towards a more comprehensive solution in the shape of the adoption of the proposal for a directive on a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB); welcomes the initiative to create a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions in the External Strategy for Effective Taxation;

Amendment 175 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Welcomes the Anti-tax Avoidance Package (ATAP) published by the Commission on 28 January 2016, as well as all legislative proposals and communications already undertaken afterwards; calls on the Council to reach a unanimous ambitious position on the A~~TAP and keep the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive as one single directive~~nti- Tax Avoidance Directive; strongly regrets that the current Council draft position has been weakened, especially with a grand- fathering clause on interest deduction or a narrowed approach on controlled foreign company rule; regrets that several member states, including Ireland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta have not supported the compromise on May 25th; welcomes the initiative to create a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions in the External Strategy for Effective Taxation;

Amendment 176 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

Amendment 177 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

Amendment 178 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

Amendment 179 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

Amendment 18 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas the ‘Panama Papers’ and ‘LuxLeaks’ scandals, as revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), have shown the urgent need for the EU and its Member States to fight tax evasion and avoidance and act for increased cooperation and transparency in order to re-establish tax ~~justice~~fairness and an equal level playing field;

Amendment 180 #

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. ~~Welcom~~Notes the Anti-tax Avoidance Package (ATAP) published by the Commission on 28 January 2016, as well as all legislative proposals and communications already undertaken afterwards; calls on the Council not to further water down these proposals and to reach a unanimous position on the ATAP and keep the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive as one single directive; welcomes the initiative to create a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions in the External Strategy for Effective Taxation;

Amendment 181 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Notes with concern the lack of measures that are on the table to fight against tax havens, in this sense draws attention to the fact that increasing transparency will not be enough to deal with this problem;

Amendment 182 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

Amendment 183 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

Amendment 184 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Urges the Commission to come forward with a proposal for a common corporate consolidated tax base (CCCTB) which would provide a comprehensive solution to harmful tax practices within the Union; believes that the consolidation of the CCCTB is essential and is becoming increasingly urgent; calls on the Member States to promptly reach an agreement on this and to swiftly implement it; recalls that without effective minimum corporate tax rate floors, a CCCTB is likely to amplify downward pressure on rates as the only remaining legal tool for Member States to offer more generous conditions to taxpayers and that this could also lead to more business relocation with ensuing negative labour market effects; further underlines that additional efforts may be needed to curb BEPS risks between EU Member States and third countries arising from the transfer pricing framework, particularly the pricing of intangibles, and that global alternatives to the current arm's length principle should be actively investigated and tested for the potential to ensure a fairer and more effective global tax system;

Amendment 185 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Urges the Commission to come forward with a proposal for a common corporate consolidated tax base (CCCTB) which would provide a comprehensive solution to most harmful tax practices within the Union, would bring clarity and simplicity to businesses and reduce their administrative burden, and would facilitate cross-border economic activities within the Union; believes ~~that~~ theat consolidation ~~of the CCCTB is essential and~~is the essential element of the CCCTB; takes the view that consolidation should be introduced as soon as possible and that any intermediate system including only tax base harmonisation with a loss offset mechanism can only be temporary; believes that the introduction of a full CCCTB, mandatory at least for large firms, is becoming increasingly urgent; calls on the Member States to promptly reach an agreement on th~~is and to swiftly implement it~~e CCCTB proposal when it is submitted and to swiftly implement the legislation thereafter;

Amendment 186 #

Sylvie GOULARD, Nils TORVALDS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Urges the Commission to come 3. forward with a proposal for a common corporate consolidated tax base (CCCTB) accompanied by an appropriate and fair distribution key, with an exemption for small- and medium-sized enterprises which are not MNC, which would provide a comprehensive solution to harmful tax practices within the Union; believes that the consolidation of the CCCTB is essential and is becoming increasingly urgent; calls on the Member States to promptly reach an agreement on this and to swiftly implement it;

Amendment 187 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Urges the Commission to come forward with a proposal for a common corporate consolidated tax base (CCCTB) which would provide a comprehensive solution to harmful tax practices within the Union; believes that the consolidation of the CCCTB is essential and is becoming increasingly urgent; calls on the Member States to promptly reach an agreement on this and to swiftly implement it; recalls the words of the Commission that « the existence of common rules for computing the tax base would render tax competition more transparent in the EU because this would inevitably focus on the levels of (statutory) tax rates. »1a and thus would not intend to erase any fair tax competition; __________________ 1aCommission document accompanying the Public consultation on the Re-launch of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/reso urces/documents/taxation/company_tax/f airer_corporate_taxation/2015-10- 08_consult-docmt-ccctb.pdf

Amendment 188 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Urges the Commission to come forward with a proposal for a common corporate consolidated tax base (CCCTB) which would provide a comprehensive solution to harmful tax practices within the Union; believes that the ~~consolidation of the CCCTB is essential and is becoming increasingly urgent; calls on the Member States to promptly reach an agreem~~Commission's two-step approach to the CCCTB proposal is a practical approach; calls on the Member States and the Commission to continue its technical work on CCCTB and ensure that before any proposal is presented on ~~this and to swiftly implement it~~CCCTB that a sufficiently detailed impact assessment is completed; believes that the Commission, in the first instance, should identify areas where a consensus can be reached and develop proposals on that basis;

Amendment 189 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

Amendment 19 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas the ‘Panama Papers’ and ‘LuxLeaks’ scandals, as revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), have shown the urgent need for the EU and its Member States to fight tax evasion ~~and~~, aggressive tax planning and tax avoidance and act for increased cooperation and transparency in order to re-establish tax justice;

Amendment 190 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

Amendment 191 #

Krišjānis KARIŅŠ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. ~~Urg~~Notes the Commission's intention to come forward with a proposal for a common corporate consolidated tax base (CCCTB) which wcould provide a ~~comprehensive~~ solution to harmful tax practices within the Union~~; believes that the consolidation of the CCCTB is essential and is becoming increasingly urgent; calls on the Member States to promptly reach an agreement on this and to swiftly implement it~~ and emphasizes that this proposal in any way shall not undermine national tax legislations; strongly notes that taxation is to remain the sovereign responsibility of the Member States as the Treaty foresees it; reminds that fair tax competition fosters growth;

Amendment 192 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. ~~Urge~~Supports the Commission's intentions to come forward with a proposal for a common corporate (consolidated) tax base (CC~~CTB) which w~~(C)TB); believes that the issue of consolidation of the CCCTB is essential yet highly complex; notes that only under the right conditions a CCCTB could provide a comprehensive solution to harmful tax practices within the Union; ~~believ~~Notes that the ~~consolidation of the CCCTB is essential and is becoming increasingly urgent; calls on the Member States to promptly~~previous proposal on a CCCTB lacked the right conditions to reach an agreement ~~on this and to swiftly implement it~~;

Amendment 193 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. ~~Urges~~Reiterates its call on the Commission in 2015 to come forward with a proposal for a common corporate consolidated tax base (CCCTB) which would provide a comprehensive solution to harmful tax practices within the Union before the end of 2016; believes that the consolidation of the CCCTB is essential and is becoming increasingly urgent; calls on the Member States to promptly reach an agreement on this and to swiftly implement it;

Amendment 194 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

Amendment 195 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 196 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the Commission’s adoption on 12 April 2016 of a proposal for a directive amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure by companies, their subsidiaries and branches, of information relating to income tax and to increased transparency in company tax; regrets, however, that the proposed scope, criteria and thresholds are not in line with the previous positions adopted by Parliament; in particular, the obligation regarding country-by-country disclosure must cover all[1] jurisdictions in which the multinational operates; the information provided must, in addition to the seven areas referred to in the proposal, include public subsidies, purchases, the value of assets, deferred taxes and the list of subsidiaries; the multinationals subject to the obligation on public country-by-country reporting must be those with a net turnover of more than EUR 40 million[2], in line with the definition of large groups laid down in Directive 2013/34/EU; [1] Under the Commission proposal, this obligation applies only to Member States and jurisdictions included in the future European blacklist. [2] The proposal for a directive sets the threshold at EUR 750 million.

Amendment 197 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the Commission’'s adoption on 12 April 2016 of a proposal for a directive amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure by companies, their subsidiaries and branches, of information relating to income tax and to increased transparency in company tax; regrets, however, that the proposed scope, criteria and thresholds are not in line with the previous positions adopted by Parliament, leaving certain loopholes available for exploitation by MNEs and the maintenance of the status quo; notes that listed or unlisted multinational companies of all countries and sectors should publish as part of their annual reporting and on a country-by-country basis for each territory in which they operate, worldwide , the names of all subsidiaries and their respective financial performance, relevant tax information, assets and number of employees; recalls that, on numerous occasions, the European Parliament voted in favour of public country-by-country reporting and adopted at the time a coherent threshold of 40 million yearly turnover;

Amendment 198 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. ~~Welcom~~Notes the Commission’s adoption on 12 April 2016 of a proposal for a directive amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure by companies, their subsidiaries and branches, of information relating to income tax and to increased transparency in company tax; regrets, however, that the proposed scope, criteria and thresholds are not in line with the previous positions adopted by Parliament; re-calls its support for the disclosure of full disaggregated data for third countries to ensure transparency on whether companies pay their taxes where their economic activity is taking place and its support for a lower threshold of EUR40 million annual turnover to be applied; welcomes the commitment by France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK to support public country by country reporting for large multinational enterprises;

Amendment 199 #

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 2 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Citation 9

– having regard to the ECOFIN conclusions on ~~corp~~the exchange of tax-related informat~~e tax avoidance~~ion on the activities of multinational companies and on the code of conduct on business taxation of 8 March 2016, on corporate taxation, base erosion and profit shifting of 8 December 2015, on business taxation of 9 December 2014 and on taxation policy of 1 December 1997,

Amendment 20 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas the ‘Panama Papers’ and ‘LuxLeaks’ scandals, as revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), have shown the urgent need for ~~the EU and its Member States to~~ fighting tax evasion and avoidance and act for increased cooperation and transparency in order to re-establish tax justice, not only among Member States, but also globally;

Amendment 200 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 201 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 202 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 203 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 204 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 205 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Stresses that the above-mentioned Proposal for a Directive amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches should be subject to thorough analysis and, where appropriate, certain provisions should be clarified, in particular on issues such as: exempting banking sector undertakings from the proposed provisions, analysing the connections with the Proposal for a Directive amending Directive 2011/16/EU on the mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation, the introduction of a so- called list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, the role of the statutory auditor and the possibility of extending to subsidiaries and branches the obligation to publish the report of the ultimate parent undertaking at the highest level outside the EU, which, directly under EU rules, cannot be required to draw up such a report on the issue of taxes;

Amendment 206 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes the agreement in Council on 8 December 2015 on automatic exchange of information on tax rulings; ~~stresse~~regrets that at the time of this report, several member states, despite the Luxleaks scandal, still have not put in place the necessary legislative framework to start automatically exchanging information on tax rulings; regrets that the Commission ~~should~~doesn't have full access to the new Union database of tax rulings; insists on the need for a comprehensive and efficient database of all rulings having potential cross-border effect; calls, therefore, on the Member States to grant the Commission full access to the new Union database of tax rulings in order to enable the Commission to effectively monitor the potentially harmful tax policy of Member States; strongly regrets that as of mid-2015, only eight member states (Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Slovakia) had completed the necessary administrative work to implement the guidance on the Model Instruction concerning rulings;

Amendment 207 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes the agreement in Council on 8 December 2015 on automatic exchange of information on tax rulings; stresses that the Commission should have full access to the new Union database of tax rulings; insists on the need for a comprehensive and efficient database of all rulings having potential cross-border effect; stresses the need for an unambiguous definition of when a ruling is deemed to have a potential cross-border effect; reiterates its call to extend the scope of the automatic exchange of information beyond cross-border tax rulings to comprise all tax rulings including purely national rulings; insists on the need for the swift adoption of a common framework at EU level for tax rulings, setting out common criteria for, among others, the process of granting a ruling and the publication of an anonymized and summarized version of all tax rulings ;

Amendment 208 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Welcom~~Notes the agreement in Council on 8 December 2015 on automatic exchange of information on tax rulings~~; stresses that the Commission should have full access to the new Union database of tax rulings~~ and expresses its disappointment at the fact that the Council agreement falls far short of the recommendations of the European Parliament; stresses that the Commission should have full access to the new Union database of tax rulings, to enable it to monitor comprehensively compliance with the relevant provisions of competition law; insists on the need for a comprehensive and efficient database of all rulings having potential cross-border effect;

Amendment 209 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes the agreement in Council on 8 December 2015 on automatic exchange of information on tax rulings; stresses that the ~~Commission should have full access to the new Union database of tax ruling~~new Union database of tax rulings should retroactively contain all valid rulings in line with Parliament's earlier position, and that those rulings should be made public after affected corporations had the chance to request redactions of parts that constitute well- defined and actual commercial secrets; insists on the need for a comprehensive and efficient database of all rulings having potential cross-border effect;

Amendment 21 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas it is the right of businesses to choose where they locate their activities and whereas taxation is one of the criteria used by them in order to make such choices;

Amendment 210 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes the agreement in Council on 8 December 2015 on automatic exchange of information on tax rulings; regrets however that the Council did not take on board the recommendations made by the Parliament in its report of 20 October 2015 on the Commission's original proposal for such a measure; stresses that the Commission should have full access to the new Union database of tax rulings; insists on the need for a comprehensive and efficient database of all rulings having potential cross-border effect;

Amendment 211 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes the agreement in Council on 8 December 2015 on automatic exchange of information on tax rulings; ~~stresses that the Commission should have full access to the new Union database of tax rulings;~~ insists on the need for a comprehensive and efficient database of all rulings having potential cross-border effect;

Amendment 212 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Welcom~~Notes the agreement in Council on 8 December 2015 on automatic exchange of information on tax rulings; ~~stresses that the Commission should have full access to~~deplores, however, the fact that such exchanges are not public and transparent; stresses that the new Union database of tax rulings should be publicly accessible; insists on the need for a comprehensive and efficient database of all rulings having potential cross-border effect;

Amendment 213 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Underlines that the automatic exchange of information will result in a large volume of data needing to be treated, and that the issues relating to computer processing of the data concerned must be coordinated, as must the necessary human resources for analysing the data; calls for the strengthening of the Commission’s role in this work; calls on the Commission and Member States to carefully monitor the implementation of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation at national level, especially with the objective to verify how many member states request tax information through bilateral tax treaties rather than under this legal basis; calls on Member States to reinforce their tax administrations with adequate staff capacity; calls on Member States to integrate the information exchanged with fiscal authorities and the information exchanged with financial supervisors and regulators;

Amendment 214 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Underlines that the automatic exchange of information will result in a large volume of data needing to be treated, and insists that the issues relating to computer processing of the data concerned must be coordinated, a~~s must~~nd the necessary human resources ~~for~~devoted to analysing the data; calls for the strengthening of the Commission’s role in this work;

Amendment 215 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Reiterates its position that multinational undertakings ought to publish in a clear and comprehensible manner in their balance sheets, for each Member State and each third country where they are established, a series of items of information, including pre-tax profits or losses, tax on profits or losses, number of employees, and operations performed; underlines the importance of making this information available to the public, possibly in the form of a central EU register;

Amendment 216 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Welcomes the announcement by France, the Netherlands and the UK on May 12 to put in place public registers of beneficial owners of companies; applauds France for committing to create a public register for trusts; supports UK's commitment to make any foreign company either buying property in the country, or entering into a contract with the state to declare its beneficial owner; calls on all Member States to adopt similar initiatives;

Amendment 217 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Regrets that the new OECD Global Standard on Automatic Exchange of Information does not include a transition period for developing countries, and that by making this standard reciprocal, those countries that still have low capacity to set up the necessary infrastructure to collect, manage and share the required information may effectively be excluded;

Amendment 218 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Is concerned by media reports that Member States have concluded rulings orally in order to escape their obligations under the automatic information exchange framework; emphasises that any such binding or de facto binding commitment on tax matters by a public authority shall be subject to automatic information exchange and documented in writing;

Amendment 219 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Notes that some of the solutions in connection with the automatic exchange of information may need to be clarified, particularly in areas relating to ICT infrastructure, the scope of information on the CbC form and exclusion from the safeguard clause;

Amendment 22 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)

Ab. whereas businesses are the engines of growth and job creation and whereas well-designed tax systems should provide them with the appropriate incentives to produce, recruit and innovate;

Amendment 220 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Notes that the Joint Transfer Pricing Forum has included in its work programme for 2014-2019 the development of good practices to ensure that the OECD guidelines on the subject correspond to the specificities of Member States; notes that the Commission is monitoring the progress of this work;deleted

Amendment 221 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Insists that concrete legislative action needs to be taken on transfer pricing, since 70 % of profit shifting is done through transfer pricing; taking into account the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administration 2010;

Amendment 222 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. ~~Insists that concrete legislative action needs to be taken~~Calls on the Commission to present a concrete legislative proposal on transfer pricing, since 70 % of profit shifting is done through transfer pricing; calls on Member States to grant tax rulings only if taxation of cross-border transactions is ensured;

Amendment 223 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Insists that concrete legislative action needs to be taken on transfer pricing, since 70 % of profit shifting is done through transfer pricing; underlines that the best way to tackle this issue is the adoption of a full CCCTB;

Amendment 224 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Insists that concrete legislative action needs to be taken on transfer ~~pricing, since 70 % of profit shifting is done through transfer~~ pricing;

Amendment 225 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Insists that ~~concrete legislative 8. action~~the Commission should continue to investigate what measures needs to be taken on transfer pricing, since around 70 % of profit shifting is done through transfer pricing;

Amendment 226 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Welcomes the fact that the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, has categorised transfer pricing as a particular focus area for state aid cases, as it is reported to be a common tool used by MNEs for tax evasion schemes such as inter-group loans; supports the conclusions of the investigations of the Commission in the case of Starbucks, Fiat and Amazon and urges the Commission to build sufficient examples of state-aid case law in the field of tax evasion to create guidelines on what are the limits on transfer pricing;

Amendment 227 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

Amendment 228 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Welcomes the fact that the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, ~~has categorised transfer pricing as a particular focus area for state aid cases, as it is reported to be a common tool used by~~is using state aid to investigate whether MNEs ~~for~~use tax evasion schemes ~~such as inter-group loans~~;

Amendment 229 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Welcomes the fact that the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, has categorised transfer pricing as a particular focus area for state aid cases, as it is reported to be a common tool used by MNEs for tax ~~evasion~~avoidance1a schemes such as inter-group loans; __________________ 1a Wording corrected: tax evasion is illegal; tax avoidance is legal.

Amendment 23 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the ~~scale of tax evasion and avoidance is estimated by the Commission to be EUR 1 trillion19 a year, while the~~ OECD estimates20 the revenue loss at global level to be between 4 % and 10 % of all corporate income tax revenue, representing between EUR 75 and EUR 180 billion annually, at 2014 levels; ~~whereas these are only estimates and the actual figures might be even higher;~~ whereas the costs to society of such practices are evident; whereas tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning erode the tax base of Member States and thereby lead to loss of tax revenues; __________________ 19 http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxati on/tax_fraud_evasion/a_huge_problem/ind ex_en.htm, European Commission, 10 May 2016. 20 Measuring and Monitoring BEPS, Action 11 - 2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project.

Amendment 230 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

Amendment 231 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

Amendment 232 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

Amendment 233 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

Amendment 234 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Regrets that many multinational companies heard have not strongly condemned tax avoidance practices and aggressive tax planning; stresses that MNEs can easily grant artificial inter- group loans for aggressive tax planning purposes; stresses that the preference for such debt financing is to the detriment of the taxpayers as well as financial stability; calls, therefore, on the Member States to eliminate the debt-equity bias in their respective tax laws;

Amendment 235 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Calls on the Commission to better explain the criteria by which a very limited number of suspicious tax ruling cases have been selected for review by the Commission, reiterates its concern that tax rulings could be used to give selective benefits to companies and distort competition, stresses that the Commission must ensure an equal playing field between MNEs and SMEs also in retrospect;

Amendment 236 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Notes that guidelines to identify and regulate tax-related State aid do not currently exist while this type of State aid has proven to be a worrying tax avoidance tool; reiterates accordingly its call for the Commission to draw up such guidelines as soon as feasible;

Amendment 237 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Str~~ongly emphasi~~esses that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing ~~scandals~~information ofn tax evasion and tax avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened ~~EU-wide~~at the EU level; notes that the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe have undertaken work on this issue; considers that courts and Member States should ensure the protection of legitimate business secrets while in no way hindering, hampering or stifling the capacity of whistleblowers and journalists to document and reveal illegal, wrongful and harmful practices where this is clearly and overwhelmingly in the public interest; reiterates its view that protection must be granted to whistleblowers when they inform the public after they have first notified the competent EU or national authority and such authority has failed to take within a reasonable timeframe appropriate action based on the information received; regrets that the Commission has no plans for prompt action on the matter;

Amendment 238 #

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Strongly emphasises that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing scandals of tax evasion and avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened EU-wide; notes that the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe have undertaken work on this issue; considers that courts and Member States should ensure the protection of legitimate business secrets while in no way hindering, hampering or stifling the capacity of whistleblowers and journalists to document and reveal illegal, wrongful and harmful practices where this is clearly and overwhelmingly in the public interest; considers that whistleblowers should already be protected when they report a suspicion of malpractice, crime, fraud or illegal activity to the competent authorities or the appropriate professional association; regrets that the Commission has no plans for prompt action on the matter;

Amendment 239 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Strongly emphasises that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing scandals of tax evasion and avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened EU-wide; notes that the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe have undertaken work on this issue; considers that courts and Member States should ~~ensure the protection of legitimate business secrets while~~ in no way hinder~~ing~~, hamper~~ing~~ or stifl~~ing~~e the capacity of whistleblowers and journalists to document and reveal illegal, wrongful and harmful practices where this is ~~clearly and overwhelmingly in the public interest; regrets that the Commission has no plans for prompt action on the matter~~in the public interest;

Amendment 24 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the scale of tax evasion and avoidance is estimated by the Commission to be EUR 1 trillion19 a year, while the OECD estimates20 the revenue loss at global level to be between 4 % and 10 % of all corporate income tax revenue, representing between EUR 75 and EUR 180 billion annually, at 2014 levels; whereas these are only estimates and the actual figures might be even higher; whereas the costs to society of such practices are evident; whereas tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning erode the tax base of Member States and thereby lead to loss of tax revenues and, therefore, negatively impact governments' capacity to provide adequate levels of public services, investments and social security; __________________ 19 http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxati on/tax_fraud_evasion/a_huge_problem/ind ex_en.htm, European Commission, 10 May 2016. 20 Measuring and Monitoring BEPS, Action 11 - 2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project.

Amendment 240 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Strongly emphasises that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing scandals of tax evasion and avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened EU-wide; notes that the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe have undertaken work on this issue; considers that courts and Member States should ensure the protection of legitimate business secrets while in no way hindering, hampering or stifling the capacity of whistleblowers and journalists to document and reveal illegal, wrongful ~~and~~or harmful practices where this is clearly and overwhelmingly in the public interest; regrets that the Commission has no plans for prompt action on the matter given the very recent and significant revelations provided to the public by a whistleblower, commonly referred to as the Panama Papers Scandal;

Amendment 241 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Strongly emphasises that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing scandals of tax evasion and avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened EU-wide; notes that the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe have undertaken work on this issue; considers that courts and Member States should ensure the protection of legitimate business secrets while in no way hindering, hampering or stifling the capacity of whistleblowers and journalists to document and reveal illegal, wrongful and harmful practices ~~where this is clearly and overwhelmingly~~ in the public interest; regrets that the Commission has no plans for prompt action on the matter and this despite explicit support for the Parliament's calls on this matter by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in the 17 September TAXE hearing;

Amendment 242 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Strongly emphasises that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing scandals of tax evasion and avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened EU-wide; notes that the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe have undertaken work on this issue; considers that courts and Member States should ensure the protection of legitimate business secrets while in no way hindering, hampering or stifling the capacity of whistleblowers and journalists to document and reveal illegal, wrongful and harmful practices wto the re ~~this is clearly and overwhelmingly in the public interest~~levant authority, and, if the relevant authority does not take appropriate action, to the general public; regrets that the Commission has no plans for prompt action on the matter;

Amendment 243 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Strongly emphasises that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing scandals of tax evasion and avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened EU-wide; notes that the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe have undertaken work on this issue; considers that courts and Member States should ~~ensure the protection of legitimate business secrets while~~ in no way hinder~~ing~~, hamper~~ing~~ or stifl~~ing~~e the capacity of whistleblowers and journalists to document and reveal illegal, wrongful and harmful practices where this is clearly and overwhelmingly in the public interest; regrets that the Commission has no plans for prompt action on the matter, with the criminal case against Antoine Deltour in Luxembourg as a reminder of the need for such an initiative;

Amendment 244 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Strongly emphasises that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing scandals of tax evasion and avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened EU-wide; notes that the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe have undertaken work on this issue; considers that courts and Member States should ~~ensure the protection of legitimate business secrets while in no way~~not hinder~~ing~~, hamper~~ing~~ or stifl~~ing~~e the capacity of whistleblowers and journalists to document and reveal illegal, wrongful and harmful practices where this is clearly and overwhelmingly in the public interest; regrets that the Commission has no plans for prompt action on the matter;

Amendment 245 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Strongly emphasises that the work of whistleblowers is crucial for revealing scandals of tax evasion and avoidance, and that, therefore, protection for whistleblowers needs to be legally guaranteed and strengthened EU-wide; notes that the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe have undertaken work on this issue; considers that courts and Member States should ensure the protection of legitimate business secrets while in no way hindering, hampering or stifling the capacity of whistleblowers and journalists to document and reveal illegal, wrongful and harmful practices where this is clearly ~~and overwhelmingly~~ in the public interest; regrets that the Commission has no plans for prompt action on the matter;

Amendment 246 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Notes that the Commission has launched a public consultation on ~~dispute settlement mechanisms to avoid double taxation;~~ improving double taxation dispute resolution mechanisms in which three possible ways forward are investigated: encouraging Member States to amend their bilateral tax treaties; requiring Member States to implement measures making their systems more effective, or introducing a comprehensive EU legal instrument; awaits with great interest the findings of the consultation; stresses that, whatever the option retained, the setting of a clear timeframe for dispute resolution procedures and the binding nature of the decisions will be key to enhancing the effectiveness of the systems;

Amendment 247 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Notes that the Commission has launched a consultation on dispute settlement mechanisms to avoid cross- border double taxation; calls, in this context, for a result within an acceptable period of time, so that the taxpayers concerned can be involved in these procedures;

Amendment 248 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. ~~Not~~Welcomes that the Commission has launched a consultation on dispute settlement mechanisms to avoid double taxation;

Amendment 249 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Welcomes the communication External Strategy for Effective Taxation which called on the European Investment Bank (EIB) to transpose good governance requirements in their contracts with all selected financial intermediaries; calls on the EIB to establish a new responsible taxation policy, starting from the review of its non-cooperative jurisdictions policy in 2016 in close dialogue with civil society; calls on the EIB to make both direct funding and funding via intermediaries contingent upon disclosure of both country-by-country tax-relevant data along the lines of the CRD IV provision for credit institutions, and beneficial ownership information; reiterates that the EIB should reinforce its due diligence activities so as to improve the quality of information on ultimate beneficiaries and to more effectively prevent transactions with financial intermediaries with a negative record in terms of transparency, fraud, corruption, organised crime, money laundering and harmful social and environmental impacts or registered in offshore financial centres or tax havens which resort to aggressive tax planning;

Amendment 25 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the scale of tax evasion and avoidance is estimated by the Commission to be EUR 1 trillion19 a year, while the OECD estimates20 the revenue loss at global level to be between 4 % and 10 % of all corporate income tax revenue, representing between EUR 75 and EUR 180 billion annually, at 2014 levels; whereas these are only estimates and the actual figures might be even higher; whereas the costs to society of such practices are evident; whereas tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning, which are indicative of a lack of solidarity, erode the tax base of Member States and thereby lead to loss of tax revenues and substantial damage to national economies; __________________ 19 http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxati on/tax_fraud_evasion/a_huge_problem/ind ex_en.htm, European Commission, 10 May 2016. 20 Measuring and Monitoring BEPS, Action 11 - 2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project.

Amendment 250 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Calls on the Commission to issue clear legislation on the definition of economic substance, value creation and permanent establishment, with a view to tackling, in particular, the issue of letterbox companies; calls on Member States to revise the burden of proof when it comes to re- collection of assets obtained through crimes or recovery of unlawful profits;

Amendment 251 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Asks the Commission to address the challenges of tax dumping shape a legislative proposal for a minimum effective tax rate of corporate tax; in line with the principle of subsidiarity, given that harmful distortions of competition in the internal market have been produced essentially by the existence of effective tax rates much lower than legal rates.

Amendment 252 #

Alain CADEC

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to go beyond the international standards laid down, in particular, by the OECD; calls for the European Union to become an example and a global leader in transparency and tax convergence in order to effectively tackle tax optimisation;

Amendment 253 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Considers that a common Union list of cross-border tax evaders and avoiders should be set up with full access by the Commission;

Amendment 254 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)

11b. Notes the Commission's answer to Parliament's recommendations on tax matters; Regrets that several initiatives recommended by the Parliament, such as mandatory notification of new tax schemes by tax advisory firms to tax authorities, proposal to change the EU state aid regime (as it relates to tax) or introducing withholding taxes to avoid profits leaving the EU untaxed, will not be followed up by the Commission; regrets that the Commission did not answer on some of the recommendations such as the issue of taxing royalty payments in the EU; calls again on the Commission to propose legislation in markets that are distorted through aggressive tax competition such as retail services and professional football;

Amendment 255 #

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 10

~~Blacklist and concrete sanctions for u~~Uncooperative jurisdictions ~~and withholding tax~~

Amendment 256 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Notes that so far, the only concrete initiative taken by the Commission regarding uncooperative jurisdictions, including overseas territories, has been the External Strategy for Effective Taxation; observes that until now the criteria for listing of uncooperative jurisdictions by the OECD have not proved efficient in tackling this issue and have not served as a deterrent; there are still third countries that protect illegally-obtained assets, making recovery by the EU authorities impossible;

Amendment 257 #

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Notes that so far, the only concrete initiative taken by the Commission regarding uncooperative jurisdictions, including overseas territories, has been the External Strategy for Effective Taxation; ~~observes that until now the criteria for listing of uncooperative jurisdictions by the OECD have not proved efficient in tackling this issue and have not served as a deterrent;~~

Amendment 258 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Notes th~~at so far, the only concret~~e initiatives taken by the Commission regarding uncooperative jurisdictions, including overseas territories, ~~has been~~including the External Strategy for Effective Taxation; observes that until now the criteria for listing of uncooperative jurisdictions by the OECD have not proved eff~~icient~~ective in tackling this issue and have not served as a deterrent; reminds the shortcomings and difficulties of a blacklisting exercise, often based on political considerations rather than objective criteria;

Amendment 259 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)

12a. Asks Member States to implement measures against MNEs that have either holdings or subsidiaries in tax havens, in this sense calls on governments to set a good example by forbidding public companies to have affiliates in tax havens;

Amendment 26 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the scale of tax evasion and avoidance is estimated by the Commission to be EUR 1 trillion19 a year, while the OECD estimates20 the revenue loss at global level to be between 4 % and 10 % of all corporate income tax revenue, representing between EUR 75 and EUR 180 billion annually, at 2014 levels; whereas these are only estimates and the actual figures might be even higher; whereas the costs to society of such practices are evident, seriously undermine good governance and trust in democracy; whereas tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning erode the tax base of Member States and thereby lead to loss of tax revenues; __________________ 19 http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxati on/tax_fraud_evasion/a_huge_problem/ind ex_en.htm, European Commission, 10 May 2016. 20 Measuring and Monitoring BEPS, Action 11 - 2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project.

Amendment 260 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

Amendment 261 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to come up as soon as possible with a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions (i.e. a ‘'blacklist of tax havens’'), based on sound and objective criteria, including full implementation of OECD recommendations, tax transparency measures, BEPS actions and multilateral Automatic Exchange of Information standards as well as the elements used to define 'low tax or secrecy jurisdictions' in Parliament's report on Commission proposal 2016/0011 (CNS), and welcomes the Commission’'s intention to reach an agreement on such a list within the next six months; calls on the Member States to endorse that agreement by the end of 2016 and on the government of the United States of America to fully implement the results of multilateral processes instead of currently used non-reciprocal standards; urges the Commission and Member States to support a global process for listing problematic jurisdiction at UN level; underlines, however, that developing countries which have not actively taken part in the BEPS process and which constitute no significant global BEPS risks by means of their tax systems should not be blacklisted on the basis of not implementing certain BEPS actions, but should equally commit to tax transparency and multilateral cooperation in tax matters;

Amendment 262 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to come up as soon as possible with a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions (i.e. a ‘blacklist of tax havens’), based on sound and objective criteria, including full implementation of OECD recommendations, BEPS actions ~~and Automatic Exchange of Information standards, and w~~, information on harmful tax competition brought to bear to attract tax receipts generated in other Member States, tax advantages granted to non-resident companies with no obligation to transact any meaningful business in the territory in question and Automatic Exchange of Information standards, and welcomes the Commission’s intention to reach an agreement on such a list within the next six months. The applicable laws and rules must ensure that this exchange of information is effective, guaranteeing the disclosure of banking information on the actual and ultimate beneficiaries of companies, foundations and trusts. Welcomes the Commission’s intention to reach an agreement on such a list within the next six months; calls on the Member States to endorse that agreement by the end of 2016;

Amendment 263 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to come up as soon as possible with a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions (i.e. a ‘'blacklist of tax havens’'), based on sound and objective criteria, including ~~full implementation of OECD recommendations, BEPS actions and A~~significantly lower effective level of taxation, the existence of active harmful tax practices, advantages granted to non- resident individuals or legal entities, prevention of automatic Eexchange of Iinformation ~~standards, and~~for tax purposes with other governments and non-disclosure of the corporate structure of legal entities (including trusts, charities, foundations etc.) or the ownership of assets or rights; welcomes the Commission’'s intention to reach an agreement on such a list within the next six months; calls on the Member States to endorse that agreement by the end of 2016; urges the EU and Member States to support a global process for listing uncooperative jurisdictions at the UN level;

Amendment 264 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to come up ~~as soon as possible~~ with a common Union definition and list of uncooperative jurisdictions (i.e. a ‘blacklist of tax havens’), based on sound and objective criteria, including full implementation of OECD recommendations, BEPS actions and Automatic Exchange of Information standards~~, and welcomes the Commission’s intention to reach an agreement on such a list within the next six months; calls on the Member States to endorse that agreement by the end of 2016;~~ ; stresses that the reflection on the criteria used, the countries to be prioritised and the listing and de-listing process should be thorough in order to ensure that the list can be objective and serve as a real deterrent, without this approach being used as an excuse to ditch or delay the initiative; believes that an escalation procedure, starting with a truly constructive dialogue, prior to the inclusion on the list, with the jurisdiction in which shortcomings are identified, will be essential in order to also achieve a preventive effect of the listing;

Amendment 265 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to come up as soon as possible with a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions (i.e. a ‘'blacklist of tax havens’'), based on sound and objective criteria, including ~~full implementation of OECD recommendations, BEPS actions and Automatic Exchange of Information standards,~~level of secrecy and disclosure of legal and beneficial ownership information and structure of legal entities (companies, trusts, foundations, charity...), lack of commitment to implement the OECD common reporting standard on automatic information exchange, low or zero tax rates for non-residents; lack of requirement of economic substance; and welcomes the Commission’'s intention to reach an agreement on such a list within the next six months; calls on the Commission to assess Member States with the same established criteria; calls on the Member States to endorse that agreement by the end of 2016;

Amendment 266 #

Hugues BAYET, Evelyn REGNER, Sergio Gaetano COFFERATI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to ~~come up as soon as possible with~~propose a method, possibly involving decisions by an independent, scientific body, for setting up a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions (i.e. a ‘blacklist of tax havens’), based on sound and objective criteria, including full implementation of OECD recommendations, BEPS actions and Automatic Exchange of Information standards, a~~nd welcomes the Commission’s intention to reach an agreement on such a list within the next six months; calls on the Member States to endorse that agreement~~sks Member States to endorse the method without delay; calls on the Union to set up a blacklist as soon as the method has been accepted by a qualified majority of Member States, preferably by the end of 2016;

Amendment 267 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to come up as soon as possible with a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions~~, a so-called~~ (i.e. a ‘blacklist of tax havens’), based on sound and objective criteria, including ~~the full implementation of OECD recommendations, BEPS actions and A~~significantly lower effective level of taxation, the existence of active harmful tax practices, advantages granted to non- resident individuals or legal entities , prevention of automatic Eexchange of Iinformation ~~standards and welcomes the intention from~~for tax purposes with other governments and non-disclosure of the corporate structure of legal entities (including trusts, charities, foundations etc.) or the ownership of assets or rights; welcomes the Commission’s intention to reach an agreement on ~~a common Union~~such a list within the next six months; calls on the Member States to endorse ~~it before~~that agreement by the end of 2016; urges on the EU and Member States to support a global process for listing problematic jurisdiction at UN level.

Amendment 268 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

Amendment 269 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

Amendment 27 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the scale of tax evasion and avoidance is estimated by the Commission to be EUR 1 trillion19 a year, while the OECD estimates20 the revenue loss at global level to be between 4 % and 10 % of all corporate income tax revenue, representing between EUR 75 and EUR 180 billion annually, at 2014 levels; whereas these are only estimates and the actual figures might be even higher; whereas the ~~costs to society~~negative impacts of such practices on Member States' budgets and on citizens are evident; whereas tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning erode the tax base of Member States and thereby lead to loss of tax revenues; __________________ 19 http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxati on/tax_fraud_evasion/a_huge_problem/ind ex_en.htm, European Commission, 10 May 2016. 20 Measuring and Monitoring BEPS, Action 11 - 2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project.

Amendment 270 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

Amendment 271 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to come up as soon as possible with a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions (i.e. a ‘blacklist of tax havens’), ~~based on sound and objective criteria~~using criteria based on comprehensive, transparent, robust, objectively verifiable and commonly accepted indicators, including full implementation of OECD recommendations, BEPS actions and Automatic Exchange of Information standards, and welcomes the Commission’s intention to reach an agreement on such a list within the next six months; calls on the Member States to endorse that agreement by the end of 2016;

Amendment 272 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to come up as soon as possible with a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions ~~(i.e. a ‘blacklist of tax havens’)~~, based on sound and objective criteria, including full implementation of OECD recommendations, BEPS actions and Automatic Exchange of Information standards, and welcomes the Commission’s intention to reach an agreement on such a list within the next six months; calls on the Member States to endorse that agreement by the end of 2016;

Amendment 273 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Calls on Commission to aim for full consistence with the Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) by OECD when acting against tax avoidance. If Europe goes beyond the OECD recommendations it increase the regulatory burden on EU companies but also create grey zones and new loopholes for tax avoidance;

Amendment 274 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)

13b. Calls on Commission and Council to follow the OECD model tax convention on income and on capital. Different rules will lead to legal uncertainty and deviating standard since the OECD model tax convention is a flexible document that develops over time;

Amendment 275 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 276 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 277 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Calls for a concrete Union regulatory framework for sanctions against the blacklisted non-cooperative jurisdictions, including, but not limited to, the possibility of reviewing and, in the last resort, suspending free trade agreements ~~and~~, prohibiting access to Union funds and temporarily suspending double taxation conventions (DTCs) that Member States may have with territories on the list; calls for the sanctions also to apply to companies, banks, and accountancy and law firms, and to tax advisers proven to be involved with those jurisdictions. Companies investing or transacting business in these non-cooperative territories and whose presence is not justified by their corporate purpose must be stripped of the tax advantages they gain under the tax laws of the Member States and DTCs; such companies must also be barred from receiving funding from the EU budget and advisory services from the European institutions; consideration should also be given to the possibility of punishing businesses that maintain branches and carry out activities in countries on the European blacklist that are not justified by their corporate purpose by revoking their operating licenses;

Amendment 278 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Calls for a concrete Union regulatory framework for sanctions against the blacklisted non-cooperative jurisdictions, including, but not limited to, the possibility of reviewing and, in the last resort, suspending free trade agreements and prohibiting access to Union funds; calls for the sanctions also to apply to companies, banks, and accountancy and law firms, and to tax advisers proven to be involved with those jurisdictions or to have facilitated tax and corporate arrangements to other companies involving legal vehicles in those jurisdictions, including any schemes aiming at concealing the natural persons who are the ultimate beneficiary owners of any corporate structures; calls also for effective Union regulation and cooperation mechanisms with third countries to ensure swift confiscation, by Member States, of proceeds of crimes committed via blacklisted non cooperative jurisdictions, including those earned by any intermediaries which enabled and were accomplices to such crimes;

Amendment 279 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 28 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the scale of tax evasion and avoidance is estimated by the Commission to be up to EUR 1 trillion19 a year, while the OECD estimates20 the revenue loss at global level to be between 4 % and 10 % of all corporate income tax revenue, representing between EUR 75 and EUR 180 billion annually, at 2014 levels; whereas these are only estimates and the actual figures might be even higher; whereas the costs to society of such practices are evident; whereas tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning erode the tax base of Member States and thereby lead to loss of tax revenues; __________________ 19 http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxati on/tax_fraud_evasion/a_huge_problem/ind ex_en.htm, European Commission, 10 May 2016. 20 Measuring and Monitoring BEPS, Action 11 - 2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project.

Amendment 280 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 281 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 282 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 283 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Calls for a concrete Union regulatory framework for sanctions against the blacklisted non-cooperative jurisdictions, including, but not limited to, the possibility of reviewing and, in the last resort, suspending free trade agreements, imposing trade or other tariffs, in conformity with WTO-rules, at a level equal to the damage done by foregone tax revenue and prohibiting access to Union funds; calls for the sanctions also to apply to companies, banks, and accountancy and law firms, and to tax advisers proven to be involved with those jurisdictions;

Amendment 284 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Calls for a ~~concrete~~ Union regulatory framework for sanctions against the blacklisted non-cooperative jurisdictions, including, but not limited to, the possibility of reviewing and, in the last resort, suspending free trade agreements and prohibiting access to Union funds; calls for the sanctions to als~~o t~~o apply to companies, banks, ~~and~~ accountancy and law firms, and to tax advisers proven to be involved with those jurisdictions; insists that sanctions should be designed in such a way as not to harm the legitimate interests of businesses and ordinary citizens;

Amendment 285 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 286 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Calls for a concrete Union regulatory framework for sanctions against the blacklisted non-cooperative jurisdictions, including, but not limited to, the possibility of ~~reviewing and, in the last resort, suspending free trade agreements and~~ prohibiting access to Union funds; calls for the sanctions also to apply to companies, banks, and accountancy and law firms, and to tax advisers proven to be involved ~~with~~in illegal activities in those jurisdictions;

Amendment 287 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Calls on the Commission to prepare binding legislation banning all EU institutions from opening accounts or operating in the jurisdictions included in the common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions;

Amendment 288 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Considers it necessary to clarify the criteria for blacklisting a particular jurisdiction;

Amendment 289 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Calls on the Member States to renegotiate their bilateral tax treaties with third countries in order to introduce anti- abuse clauses and thus prevent ‘'treaty shopping~~’; stresses furthermore that this process would be expedited considerably if the Commission were mandated by Member States~~'; calls on Member States to revise their bilateral tax treaties with developing countries to redefine taxation rights and use the UN model treaty as the general standard; calls on Member States and the commission to dress a check list for free trade agreements of necessary criteria to protect the partner countries concerned against tax avoidance, evasion or money laundering activities; stresses furthermore that this process would be expedited considerably if the Commission were mandated by Member States to negotiate such tax treaties on behalf of the Union while fully respecting its obligation of policy coherence for development under the treaty; calls, therefore, on the Member States to mandate the Commission to negotiate such tax treaties on behalf of the Union;

Amendment 29 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the scale of tax evasion and avoidance is estimated by the Commission to be EUR 1 trillion19 a year, while the OECD estimates20 the revenue loss at global level to be between 4 % and 10 % of all corporate income tax revenue, representing between EUR 75 and EUR 180 billion annually, at 2014 levels; whereas these are only estimates and the actual figures might be ~~even higher~~different; whereas the costs to society of such practices are evident; whereas tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning erode the tax base of Member States and thereby lead to loss of tax revenues; __________________ 19 http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxati on/tax_fraud_evasion/a_huge_problem/ind ex_en.htm, European Commission, 10 May 2016. 20 Measuring and Monitoring BEPS, Action 11 - 2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project.

Amendment 290 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Calls on the Member States to renegotiate their bilateral tax treaties with third countries in order to introduce anti- abuse clauses and thus prevent ‘treaty shopping’; stresses furthermore that this process would be expedited considerably if the Commission were mandated by Member States to negotiate such tax treaties on behalf of the Union; calls on the Member States to properly ensure a fair treatment of developing countries when negotiating such treaties, taking into account their particular situation and ensuring a fair distribution of taxing rights between source and residence countries; calls, in this regard, to adhere to the UN model tax convention rather than the OECD model, to conduct comprehensive impact assessments ensuring that negative impacts are avoided, to desist from reducing withholding tax rates and to ensure transparency around treaty negotiations;

Amendment 291 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Calls on the Member States to renegotiate their bilateral tax treaties with third countries in order to introduce anti- abuse clauses a~~nd thus prevent ‘treaty shopping’~~gainst 'treaty shopping' as well as the possibility of withholding taxes in cases of insufficient minimum effective taxation, a distribution of taxation rights between source and resident countries reflective of economic substance and a corresponding definition of permanent establishment; stresses furthermore that this process would be expedited considerably if the Commission were mandated by Member States to negotiate such tax treaties on behalf of the Union;

Amendment 292 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Calls on the Member States to ren~~egoti~~sure thate their bilateral tax treaties with third countries ~~in order to introduce~~have sufficiently robust anti- abuse clauses ~~and thus~~to prevent ‘'treaty shopping~~’; stresses furthermore that this process would be expedited considerably if the Commission were mandated by Member States to negotiate such tax treaties on behalf of the Union~~';

Amendment 293 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Calls on the Member States to renegotiate their bilateral tax treaties with third countries in order to introduce anti- abuse clauses and thus prevent ‘treaty shopping’; ~~stresses furthermore that this process would be expedited considerably if the Commission were mandated by Member States to negotiate such tax treaties on behalf of the Union;~~

Amendment 294 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

Amendment 295 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Calls on the Member States to renegotiate their bilateral tax treaties with third countries in order to introduce anti- abuse clauses and thus prevent ‘treaty shopping’; stresses ~~furthermore that~~that this renegotiation is in the best interest of each Member State so that there is no reason to assume this process wcould be ~~expedited considerabl~~handled in a more expeditious way if the Commission were mandated ~~by Member States to negotiate such tax treaties on behalf of the Union~~to act on their behalf;

Amendment 296 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. Calls for a more active role of the Commission in coordinating with OECD and IMF, following-up the implementation of current legislation, and in the preparation of draft legislation on tax matters, and asks the Commission to consider setting up a European Tax Agency in charge as well of collecting the EU true own resources, current and future;

Amendment 297 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

Amendment 298 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

Amendment 299 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

Amendment 3 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 a (new)

– having regard to the Directive 2015/849 of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing;

Amendment 30 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas within a budgetary framework of mutual control it is unacceptable for resources to be generated by taxes due in a Member State to actually be generated in another Member State through unfair and aggressive tax planning;

Amendment 300 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Recommends introducing an EU- wide withholding tax by Member States, in order to ensure that profits generated within the Union are taxed at least once before leaving it; notes that such a proposal should include a refund system to prevent double taxation; underlines that such a general withholding tax system based on the credit method has the advantage of preventing double non-taxation and BEPS without creating instances of double taxation and without relying on a selective blacklisting approach which entails significant diplomatic challenges when thoroughly applied as confirmed by several official interlocutors during committee delegations and hearings;

Amendment 301 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Recommends introducing an EU- wide withholding tax to be included in the parent-subsidiary directive, in order to ensure that profits generated within the Union are taxed at least once before leaving it; the level of such a withholding tax can be based on the minimum effective corporate tax rate in the EU and notes that such a proposal should include a refund system to prevent double taxation;

Amendment 302 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. ~~Recommends introducing~~Calls on the Commission to present a legislative proposal for an EU- wide withholding tax, in order to ensure that profits generated within the Union no matter of their qualification are taxed at least once before leaving it; notes that such a proposal should include a refund system to prevent double taxation;

Amendment 303 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. ~~Recommends introducing an EU- wide withholding tax, in order to ensure~~Urges that profits generated within the Union arshould be taxed at least once before leaving it~~; notes that such a proposal should include a refund system~~ and that at the same time Member States should take steps to prevent double taxation;

Amendment 304 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Recommends introducing an EU- wide withholding tax, in order to ensure that profits generated within the Union are taxed at least once before leaving it; notes that such a proposal should include a refund system to prevent double taxationan increased sharing of information between national authorities in order to ensure that taxes are paid in EU when this shall be the case and in the relevant Member State;

Amendment 305 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Recommends ~~introducing an EU- wide withholding tax, in order to ensure~~ that all profits generated within the Union are ~~taxed at least once~~subject to tax before leaving it; notes that ~~such a proposal should include a refund system to prevent double~~this can be accomplished by refining national corporate and capital gains taxation laws;

Amendment 306 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Recommends introducing an ~~EU- wide withholding tax~~effective taxation system, in order to ensure that profits generated within the Union are taxed at least once before leaving it; notes that such a proposal should include a refund system to prevent double taxation;

Amendment 307 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Recommends ~~introducing an EU- wide~~Member States to introduce a withholding tax, in order to ensure that profits generated ~~within the Union~~ are taxed at least once ~~before~~when leaving ~~it; notes that such a proposal s~~the Union to third countries; notes that withhould in~~clude a refund system~~g taxes may assist to prevent double taxation;

Amendment 308 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Recommends introducing ~~an EU- wide~~the principle of a withholding tax, in order to ensure that profits generated within the Union are taxed at least once before leaving it; notes that such a proposal should include a refund system to prevent double taxation;

Amendment 309 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)

16a. Regrets that Andorra and Monaco have committed to automatic information exchange by 2018 instead of 2017; points out that some non-cooperative jurisdiction such as Andorra comply with exchange of information standards but are moving towards becoming low-tax jurisdictions; is concerned that the double taxation agreement between Andorra and Spain does not currently ensure effective automatic exchange of information; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the effective application of the automatic exchange of information included in the Member States’ agreements signed with former or actual non-cooperative jurisdictions;

Amendment 31 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas developing countries are disproportionately affected by corporate tax avoidance, which is responsible for an estimated $100 billion20a of annual tax revenue losses, depriving them of the essential resources to fund the most basic services and harming EU development cooperation policies; __________________ 20a [1] World Investment Report 2015 - Reforming International Investment Governance, UNCTAD, 2015

Amendment 310 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)

16a. The hybrid mismatch between EU Member States and third countries in the designation of entities, for example the CV/BV construction in the Netherlands used by many American firms, leading to double non-taxation, should be effectively dealt with in European legislation, as an addition to the European Commission's ATAP proposals;

Amendment 311 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes that until now, patent, knowledge and R&D boxes have not proven effective in fostering innovation in the Union, but are, rather, used by MNEs for profit-shifting through aggressive tax planning schemes, such as the well-known ‘double Irish with a Dutch sandwich’; considers that patent boxes are an ill- suited tool for achieving economic objectives; insists that R&D can be promoted through subsidies which should be given preference over patent boxes, as subsidies are less at risk of being abused by tax avoidance schemes; observes that the link between patent boxes and R&D activities is often arbitrary and that current models lead to a race to the bottom with regard to the effective tax contribution of MNEsthus undermine the tax system by contributing to tax avoidance;

Amendment 312 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes that until now, patent, knowledge and R&D boxes have ~~not~~ proven to have a limited effect~~ive i~~ on fostering innovation in the Union~~, but are, rather,~~ and are often used by MNEs for profit-shifting through aggressive tax planning schemes~~, such as the well-known ‘double Irish with a Dutch sandwich’~~; considers that patent boxes are an ill-suited tool for achieving economic objectives; insists that R&D can be promoted through subsidies which should be given preference over patent boxes, as subsidies are less at risk of being abused by tax avoidance schemes; observes that the link between patent boxes and R&D activities is often arbitrary and that current models lead to a race to the bottom with regard to the effective tax contribution of MNEs; whereas it should be analysed how tax incentives can be used to stimulate much needed R&D and innovation in the EU without the perverse effect of serving as a tool to artificially reduce tax contributions;

Amendment 313 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes that ~~until now,~~ patent, knowledge and R&D boxes ~~have not proven effective in~~can be a useful instrument to foster~~ing~~ innovation in the Union, but ~~are, rather,~~ have often been misused by MNEs for profit- shifting through aggressive tax planning schemes, such as the well-known ‘double Irish with a Dutch sandwich’; considers that well-designed patent boxes are an ill- suited tool for achieving economic objectives; insists that R&D can be promoted through subsidies which should be given preference over patent boxes, as subsidies are less at risk of being abused by tax avoidance schemes; observes that the link between patent boxes and R&D activities is often arbitrary and that current models lead to a race to the bottom with regard to the effective tax contribution of MNEgimes should only grant preferential treatment to income derived from substantial activities effectively carried out by the taxpayer obtaining the benefit; insists that R&D can also be promoted through subsidies;

Amendment 314 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes that until now, patent, knowledge and R&D boxes may have not proven highly effective in fostering innovation in the Union~~, but are, rather, used by MNEs for profit-shifting through aggressive tax planning schemes, such as the well- known ‘double Irish with a Dutch sandwich’~~; considers that patent boxes are an ill-suited tool for achieving economic objectives; insists that R&D can be promoted through subsidies which should be given preference over patent boxes, as subsidies are less at risk of being abused by tax avoidance schemes; observes that the link between patent boxes and R&D activities is often arbitrary and that current models lead to a race to the bottom with regard to the effective tax contribution of MNEs;

Amendment 315 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes that until now, patent, knowledge and R&D boxes have not proven effective in fostering innovation in the Union, but are, rather, used by MNEs for profit-shifting through aggressive tax planning schemes, such as the well-known ‘double Irish with a Dutch sandwich’; considers that patent boxes are an ill-suited tool for ~~achieving economic objectives~~promoting R&D; insists that R&D can be promoted through subsidies which should be given preference over patent boxes, as subsidies are less at risk of being abused by tax avoidance schemes; observes that the link between patent boxes and R&D activities is often arbitrary and that current models lead to a race to the bottom with regard to the effective tax contribution of MNEs; calls on Member States to phase out existing and prohibit new patent boxes by 2021 at the latest;

Amendment 316 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes that until now, patent, knowledge and R&D boxes have not proven sufficiently effective in fostering innovation in the Union, but are, rather, used by MNEs for profit-shifting through aggressive tax planning schemes, such as the well- known ‘double Irish with a Dutch sandwich’; considers that patent boxes are an ill-suitedconsiders that patent boxes in line with the OECD Modified Nexus Approach can be suitable tool for achieving economic objectives; ~~insist~~believes that R&D can be promoted through subsidies which shcould be given preference over patent boxes, as subsidies are less at risk of being abused by tax avoidance schemes; observes that the link between patent boxes and R&D activities is often arbitrary and that some current models lead to a race to the bottom with regard to the effective tax contribution of MNEs; therefore calls on all Member States to ensure that their patent boxes are in line with the OECD Modified Nexus Approach;

Amendment 317 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes that until now, patent, knowledge and R&D boxes have not proven effective in fostering innovation in the Union, but are, rather, used by MNEs for profit-shifting through aggressive tax planning schemes, such as the well-known ‘double Irish with a Dutch sandwich’; considers that patent boxes are an ill-suited tool for achieving economic objectives; insists that R&D ~~can~~should be promoted ~~through subsidies which should be given preference over patent boxes, as subsidies are less at risk of being abused by tax avoidance schemes~~using broader policy measures that promote long-term innovation and independent research; observes that the link between patent boxes and R&D activities is often arbitrary and that current models lead to a race to the bottom with regard to the effective tax contribution of MNEs;

Amendment 318 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes that ~~until now,~~ patent, knowledge and R&D boxes ~~have not proven effective in~~should foster~~ing~~ innovation in the Union, ~~but are, rather,~~; regrets that they are, instead, often used by MNEs for profit-shifting through aggressive tax planning schemes, such as the well-known ‘double Irish with a Dutch sandwich’; ~~considers~~is of the opinion that patent boxes are an i~~ll-suited~~neffective tool for achieving economic objectives; insists that R&D can be promoted through subsidies which should be given preference over patent boxes, as subsidies are less at risk of being abused by tax avoidance schemes; observes that the link between patent boxes and R&D activities is ~~often arbitr~~not always straightforwaryd and that current models lead to a race to the bottom with regard to the effective tax contribution of MNEs;

Amendment 319 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes that until now, patent, knowledge and R&D boxes have not, in all cases, proven effective in fostering innovation in the Union, but are, rather, used by MNEs for profit-shifting through aggressive tax planning schemes~~, such as the well-known ‘double Irish with a Dutch sandwich’~~; considers that patent boxes are ~~an ill-~~not in all cases a suited tool for achieving economic objectives; insists that R&D can be promoted through subsidies which should be given preference over patent boxes, as subsidies are less at risk of being abused by tax avoidance schemes; observes that the link between patent boxes and R&D activities ~~is often~~can be arbitrary and that current models can lead to a race to the bottom with regard to the effective tax contribution of MNEs;

Amendment 32 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the Panama Papers reminded us that the issue of tax avoidance goes beyond multi-national companies, is strongly liked to criminal activities and that offshore wealth is estimated to approximately $10 trillion; whereas more than two and a half trillion USD of offshore wealth is held in Switzerland;

Amendment 320 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Observes that so far, Member States, in particular within the framework of the Code of Conduct Group, have been neglecting this issue and have yet to come up with a proper time-frame to tackle it; regrets that barely any progress has been made by Member States in implementing into national law the modified nexus approach agreed by Ministers in December 2014; calls on Member States to implement these changes as soon as possible as they are already behind schedule; calls on the Commission to do an assessment of these legislative changes by mid-2016 and to inform the European Parliament about progress;

Amendment 321 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Observes that so far, some Member States, in particular within the framework of the Code of Conduct Group, have been neglecting this issue and have yet to come up with a proper time-frame to tackle it; stresses in particular the negative role played in this regard by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which has also emerged from certain investigations by journalists;

Amendment 322 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. ~~Observ~~Deplores that so far, Member States, in particular within the framework of the Code of Conduct Group, have been neglecting this issue and have yet to come up with a proper time-frame to tackle it;

Amendment 323 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

Amendment 324 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

Amendment 325 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Calls on the Commission to put forward proposals for binding Union legislation on patent boxes that goes beyond the OECD Modified Nexus Approach, so as to prohibit the misuse of patent boxes and to ensure that if and when used they are linked to genuine economic activity; calls on Member States, given the overwhelming economic and collective action rationale against patent boxes and similar preferential regimes, to phase such regimes progressively out and replace them with less distortive measures of R&D promotion;

Amendment 326 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Calls on the Commission to put forward proposals for binding Union legislation on patent boxes that goes beyond the OECD Modified Nexus Approach and calls for prohibition of tax exemption on income from intellectual property, so as to prohibit the misuse of patent boxes for tax avoidance purposes and to ensure that if and when used they are linked to genuine economic activity; calls in the meantime on all Member States to publicly disclose which companies benefit from a patent box regime in their country;

Amendment 327 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Calls on the Commission to put forward proposals for binding Union legislation on patent boxes that goes beyond the OECD Modified Nexus Approach, so as to prohibit the misuse of patent boxes and to ensure that if and when used they are linked to genuine economic activity; stresses that the Commission proposal should apply to all patent Boxes issued by the Member States;

Amendment 328 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Calls on the Commission to put forward proposals for binding Union legislation on patent boxes that ~~goes beyond~~complies with the OECD Modified Nexus Approach, so as to prohibit the misuse of patent boxes and to ensure that if and when used they are linked to genuine economic activity;

Amendment 329 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Calls on the Commission to put forward proposals for binding Union legislation on patent boxes ~~that goes bey~~building ond the OECD Modified Nexus Approach, so as to prohibit the misuse of patent boxes and to ensure that if and when used they are linked to genuine economic activity;

Amendment 33 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas MNEs as well as SMEs in Europe pay more taxes than in any other region in the world;

Amendment 330 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

~~20. Calls on the Member States to integrate a Minimum Effective Taxation (MET) clause in the Interests and Royalties Directive and to ensure that no exemptions are gran~~deleted;

Amendment 331 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

~~20. Calls on the Member States to integrate a Minimum Effective Taxation (MET) clause in the Interests and Royalties Directive and to ensure that no exemptions are gran~~deleted;

Amendment 332 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

~~20. Calls on the Member States to integrate a Minimum Effective Taxation (MET) clause in the Interests and Royalties Directive and to ensure that no exemptions are gran~~deleted;

Amendment 333 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Calls on the Member States to integrate a Minimum Effective Taxation (MET) clause in the Interests and Royalties Directive a~~nd to ensure that no exemptions are granted~~s well as in the Parent- Subsidiary Directive and to ensure that no exemptions are granted; calls on Member States to consider greater harmonisation of tax rates at the European level in order to avoid competition on rate and a race to the bottom in the European Union;

Amendment 334 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Calls on the Member States to integrate a Minimum Effective Taxation (MET) clause in the Interests and Royalties Directive and to ensure that no exemptions are granted; objects to proposals made in the Council of tying the MET clause to existing patent and knowledge boxes as those may not ensure what could be reasonably deemed MET;

Amendment 335 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Calls on the Member States to integrate a Minimum Effective Taxation (MET) clause in the Interests and Royalties Directive and to ensure that no exemptions are granted; takes the view that a minimum tax rate should be agreed around the current average tax rate of the EU;

Amendment 336 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)

20a. Calls in this context for a wider review of EU legislation and the application and interpretation of the fundamental freedoms of the internal market with a view to systematically preventing instances of double non- taxation and harmful tax competition which arise as unintended consequences of the facilitation of intra-Union capital movement;

Amendment 337 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. ~~Observe~~Regrets that some banks, tax advisers, law and accounting firms and other intermediaries have played a key role in designing aggressive tax planning schemes for their clients and also help national governments design their tax codes and laws, creating a significant conflict of interest;

Amendment 338 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Observes that ~~some~~many banks, tax advisers, law and accounting firms and other intermediaries have played a key role in designing aggressive tax planning schemes for their clients;

Amendment 339 #

Evelyn REGNER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. ~~Observes that some~~Deplores deeply the fact that banks, tax advisers, law and accounting firms and other intermediaries have played a key role in designing aggressive tax planning schemes for their clients;

Amendment 34 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas G20 Leaders took action in April 2009, especially requesting offshore jurisdictions to sign at least 12 information exchange treaties, with the objective to end the era of bank secrecy; whereas economists seriously questioned the effectiveness of these measures explaining that treaties have led to the relocation of bank deposits between tax havens but have not triggered significant repatriation of funds1a ; whereas there is no evidence that portfolio investments in offshore jurisdictions are on the decline at least until 2014 despite recent international efforts to increase financial transparency; whereas it is too early to assess whether the adoption of automatic exchange of tax information (Common Reporting Standard) will bring changes to this trend; __________________ 1ahttp://gabriel- zucman.eu/files/JohannesenZucman2014

Amendment 340 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Observes that some banks, tax advisers, law and accounting firms and other intermediaries have ~~played a key role in design~~been instrumental in organising aggressive tax planning schemes for their clients;

Amendment 341 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Observes that ~~some~~ banks, tax advisers, law and accounting firms and other intermediaries ~~have~~ played a key role in designing aggressive tax planning schemes for their clients;

Amendment 342 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)

21a. Observes that some national tax administrations, probably with the silent consent of their political leadership, have actively designed, offered or approved tax planning schemes for multinational enterprises;

Amendment 343 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. Is concerned about the lack of transparency and adequate documentation within financial institutions and law firms pertaining to the specific models of company ownership and control recommended by tax and legal advisors, as confirmed by the recent ‘Panama Papers’ scandal; calls on the Commission to put forward a legislative proposal to ensure necessary complementary information should be provided by banks as part of their public country by country reporting obligation; calls on the Commission to ensure 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;

Amendment 344 #

Evelyn REGNER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. Is concerned about the lack of transparency and adequate documentation within financial institutions, accounting firms and law firms pertaining to the specific models of company ownership and control recommended by tax, economic and legal advisors, as confirmed by the recent ‘Panama Papers’ scandal;

Amendment 345 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

Amendment 346 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

Amendment 347 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

Amendment 348 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22a. Is concerned about the lack of transparency and adequate documentation within national tax administrations pertaining to the competitive effects of transfer price decisions, patent box settings, tax rulings and other elements of discretionary corporate taxation;

Amendment 349 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Calls on the Commission to come forward with ~~a Union Code of Conduct for~~ legislative proposals for the separation of accounting firms and financial or tax service providers as well as for all advisory services, including a Union incompatibility regime for tax advisers, in order to prevent them from advising both public ~~and private secto~~revenue authorities and taxpayers and to prevent other conflicts of interest; calls on the Commission to launch an inquiry in order to assess the state of concentration in the sector and to suggest a cap of no one firm covering more than 10% of the market;

Amendment 35 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)

Bc. whereas according to information provided by the Bank for International Settlements, cross-border deposits in offshore centres between 2008 and 2015 have on average grown by 2.81% annually while they have grown by 1.24% only in the rest of the world1a; whereas the most important financial offshore centres in terms of foreign deposits are the Cayman Islands ($663 bn), Luxembourg ($360 bn), Switzerland ($137 bn), Hong Kong ($125 bn), Singapore ($95 bn), Bermuda ($77 bn), Panama ($67 bn), Jersey ($58 bn) and Bahamas ($55 bn); whereas cross-border deposits in European havens such as Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and Switzerland have been declining or stagnating in the past few years, leading to the supposition of a shift of the offshore activities to other jurisdictions and a restructuring of the offshore's industry as a consequence of an increasing number of bilateral tax information agreements; __________________ 1a BIS 2016 - locational banking statistics

Amendment 350 #

Neena GILL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Calls on the Commission to come forward with a Union Code of Conduct for all advisory services, including a Union incompatibility regime for tax advisers, in order to prevent them from advising both public and private sectors and to prevent other conflicts of interest; urges in this respect the Commission to come forward with a proposal amending regulation 573/2014 and directive 2014/56 in order to tackle properly potential conflicts of interest audit companies are facing.

Amendment 351 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Calls ~~on the Commission to come forward with a Union Code of Conduct for all advisory services, including a Union incompatibility regime~~for existing codes of conduct for the tax advising industry to be strengthened and, in particular, to provide for situations of potential conflicts of interests to be clearly and understandably disclosed; asks the Commission to study the need for a Union Code of Conduct for ~~tax~~all advis~~ers, in order~~ory services, and aimed to pre~~vent them from~~gulate the practice of advising both public and private sectors ands well as to prevent other conflicts of interests;

Amendment 352 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. ~~Calls on the Commission to come forward with a Union C~~Stresses that professional codes of Cconduct ~~for all advisory services, including a Union incompatibility regime fo~~already exist at national level; points at the possibility for Member Sta~~x advisers, in order to prevent them from advising both public and private sectors and to prevent other conflicts of inter~~tes to exchange these codes as best practicest;

Amendment 353 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. ~~Calls on the Commission to come forward with a Union C~~Notes that associations representing tax advisers and fiduciaries have already drawn up codes of ~~Conduct for all advisory services, including a Union incompatibility regime for tax advisers, in order to prevent them from advising both public and private sectors and to prevent other~~professional conduct at Member State level; calls on the Member States to review and if necessary broaden the scope of existing codes of conduct for individuals and bodies providing advisory services with a view to clamping down on conflicts of interest;

Amendment 354 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Calls on the Commission to come forward with a Union Code of Conduct for all advisory services~~, includ~~; asks the Commission to assess the possibility of establishing a Union incompatibility regime for tax advisers, in order to prevent them from advising both public and private sectors and to prevent other conflicts of interest;

Amendment 355 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)

23a. Calls on all EU institutions to refrain from using the services of banks, law firms, accountancy firms and other intermediaries which have actively taken part in evasion, fraud or aggressive tax optimisation schemes over a significant period of time, and to end any existing arrangements linking them to such providers;

Amendment 356 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Stresses the importance of clear separation between tax advising services and auditing services within accountancy firms; asks the Commission to study the possibility of revising the Accounting Directive and Regulation to this effectDraws attention to the risks of conflicts of interests stemming from the provision within the same firms of tax advising services and auditing services; asks the Commission to ensure the proper implementation of the legislation aimed to prevent such conflicts and to study the need to revise the Audit Directive and Regulation in order to clarify and/or tighten their provisions, in particular the provisions of article 22 of the Audit Directive as well as the provisions of article 5 of the Audit Regulation and the definition of the "material effect" of non- audit services therein;

Amendment 357 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

Amendment 358 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Stresses the importance of clear separation between tax advising services and auditing services within accountancy firms; asks the Commission, in that connection, to study the possibility of revising ~~the Accounting Directive and Regulation to this effect~~Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public- interest entities;

Amendment 359 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Stresses the importance of clear ~~separation~~incompatibility between tax advising services and auditing services within accountancy firms; asks the Commission to study the possibility of revising the Accounting Directive and Regulation to this effect; making sure that there should be separate licences for the two activities, which cannot be granted to the same firm.

Amendment 36 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)

Bd. whereas investment flows to offshore financial centres are estimated to $72 billion in 20151a and have risen in recent years by the growing flows from multinational enterprises located in developing and transition economies, sometimes in the form of investment round-tripping; whereas investment flows to special purpose entities represent the majority of offshore investment flows; whereas Luxembourg is the primary recipient of special purpose entities- related investment flows in 2015, whereas special purpose entities related inflows to the Netherlands are also especially high in 2015; whereas the persistence of financial flows routed through offshore financial mechanisms highlights the need to create greater coherence among tax and investment policies at the European and global level; __________________ 1a http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ webdiaeia2016d2_en.pdf

Amendment 360 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Stresses the importance of clear separation between tax advising services and auditing services within accountancy firms; ~~asks~~notes that the Commission ~~to study the possibility of revising the Accounting Directive and Regulation to this effect~~already addressed this issue in its recent audit reform; therefore urges the Commission to monitor the effectiveness of these new rules;

Amendment 361 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Stresses the importance of clear separation between tax advising services and auditing services within accountancy firms; asks the Commission to ~~study the possibility of revising~~include an assessment thereto in the evaluation of the Accounting Directive and Regulation ~~to this effect~~;

Amendment 362 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Stresses the importance of clear separation between legal, tax advising ~~services~~ and auditing services within accountancy firms; asks the Commission to study the possibility of revising the Accounting Directive and Regulation to this effect;

Amendment 363 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Stresses again the importance of clear separation between tax advising services and auditing services within accountancy firms; ~~asks~~calls on the Commission to ~~study the possibility of revising the Accounting Directive and Regulation~~revise relevant legislative texts to this effect;

Amendment 364 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)

24a. Notes that tax law and tax research departments of public universities are clearly interwoven with the large tax firms, leading to conflict of interests and a lack of independence that would be expected from academics; establishes that in the current situation tax advisors are trained to facilitate tax evasion with the use of public tax payer money; requests from the Commission an investigation into the interconnectedness of academia and the tax advisory world, addressing at least the issues of conflict of interests and the use of public funded education to facilitate corporate tax evasion;

Amendment 365 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Stresses the need for concrete sanctions, including the possibility of revoking business licences for professionals and companies proved to be involved in designing, advising on the use of, or utilising aggressive tax planning and evasion schemes; rRequests that the Commission explore the feasibility of introducing proportional financial liability for tax advisers proven to be engaged in ~~unlawfu~~illegal tax practices;

Amendment 366 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Stresses the need for concrete sanctions, including the possibility of revoking business licences for professionals and companies proved to be involved in ~~designing, advising on the use of, or utilising aggressive tax planning and evasion schem~~illegal tax practices; requests that the Commission explore the feasibility of introducing proportional financial liability for tax advisers engaged in unlawful tax practices; emphasises, in this context, that the Member States are responsible for ensuring that the Commission complies with the accepted principle of 'nulla poena sine lege' enshrined in Article 49 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;

Amendment 367 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. ~~Stresses the need for concrete sanctions, including~~Calls on Member States to adopt effective and dissuasive sanctions, including criminal sanctions on financial institutions and companies' managers involved in tax evasion and the possibility of revoking business licences for professionals and companies proved to be involved in designing, advising on the use of, or utilising aggressive tax planning and evasion schemes; requests that the Commission explore the feasibility of introducing proportional financial liability for tax advisers engaged in unlawful tax practices;

Amendment 368 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Stresses the need for concrete sanctions, including the possibility of revoking business licences for professionals and companies, including financial companies, proved to be involved in designing, advising on the use of, or utilising aggressive tax planning and evasion schemes; requests that the Commission explore the feasibility of introducing proportional financial liability for tax advisers engaged in unlawful tax practices;

Amendment 369 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Stresses the need for ~~concre~~Member States to establish appropriate sanctions, including the possibility of revoking business licences for professionals and companies proved to be involved in designing, advising on the use of, or utilising aggressive tax planning and evasion schemes; requests that the Commission explore the feasibility of introducing proportional financial liability for tax advisers engaged in unlawful tax practices;

Amendment 37 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital B e (new)

Be. whereas the OECD has been mandated again in April 2016 to create a blacklist of non-cooperative jurisdictions; whereas criteria for identifying tax havens are being defined by the European Commission, which acknowledged the importance of not only looking at transparency and cooperation criteria but also to consider harmful tax regimes as well;

Amendment 370 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Stresses the need for concrete sanctions, including the possibility of revoking business licences for professionals and companies proved to be involved in designing, advising on the use of, or utilising illegal aggressive tax planning and evasion schemes; requests that the Commission explore the feasibility of introducing proportional financial liability for tax advisers engaged in unlawful tax practices;

Amendment 371 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Calls on the Commission to analyse the possibility of introducing proportional financial liability for banks and financial institutions facilitating transfers to known tax havens, as defined by the future common Union list of tax havens and uncooperative tax jurisdictions;deleted

Amendment 372 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26

26. Calls on the Commission to analyse the possibility of introducing proportional financial liability for banks and financial institutions facilitating transfers to ~~known tax havens, as defined by the future common Union list of tax havens and~~ uncooperative tax jurisdictions;

Amendment 373 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27

27. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the requirements on banks to report to the Member States’ tax authorities transfers to and from jurisdictions included on the common Union list of tax havens and uncooperative tax jurisdictions; calls on Member States to ensure that banks and other financial institutions provide similar information to regulating and tax authorities; calls on Member States to strengthen the capacity of their tax administrations to investigate cases of tax evasion and avoidance;

Amendment 374 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27

27. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the requirements on banks to report to the Member States’ tax authorities transfers to ~~and from jurisdictions included on the common Union list of tax havens and~~ uncooperative tax jurisdictions;

Amendment 375 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)

27a. Calls on the Commission to come forward with a legislative proposal introducing a mandatory disclosure requirement for banks, tax advisers and other intermediaries concerning complex structures and special services that are linked to jurisdictions included on the common EU list of tax havens and non- cooperative jurisdictions, which are designed for and being used by clients to facilitate tax evasion, tax fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing;

Amendment 376 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)

27a. Calls on the Commission to conduct constant screening and monitoring of derivatives and securities financing transactions - using data held in trade repositories (TRs) in accordance with the provisions of the Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 and Regulation (EU) 2015/2365 - with the aim of identifying transactions structured to potentially produce significant tax benefits; insists that the Commission automatically provides Member States tax authorities concerned with all information, including data1a; __________________ 1a See Article 18 (Professional secrecy), paragraph 3 of REGULATION (EU) 2015/2365 on transparency of securities financing transactions and of reuse and amending Regulation (EU) : http://eur- lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:3201 5R2365&from=FR

Amendment 377 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)

27b. Calls on the Commission to put forward a legislative proposal to ensure that both credit institutions established in a Member State and undertakings admitted to trading on a regulated market or on a multilateral trading facility within the Union include in their annual financial reports a description of their use of securities financing transactions (SFTs) and of their re-use of collateral, as well as comprehensive and detailed data on the contribution of SFTs to their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and earnings after taxes (EAT);

Amendment 378 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 c (new)

27c. Calls on the Commission1a to introduce specific common minimum anti-abuse rules aimed at denying benefits arising from certain hybrid asset transfers2a , whose effect is often the deduction of the income in one State without inclusion in the tax base of the other or the generation of abusive foreign tax credit transactions; __________________ 1aThe Commission Services confirmed indeed that Article 10 ("Hybrid mismatches") of the Commission's proposal on the ATAD of 28 January 2016 "was based on a mutual recognition approach aimed at resolving differences in the legal qualification of hybrid entities and hybrid financial instruments but did not cover hybrid asset transfers which do not concern legal qualification mismatches". 2a The OECD defines "hybrid transfers" as "arrangements that are treated as transfer of ownership of an asset for one country's tax purposes but not for tax purposes of another country, which generally sees a collateralised loan" in OECD, March 2012, "Hybrid Mismatch Arrangements: Tax Policy and Compliance Issues", http://www.oecd.org/

Amendment 379 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 d (new)

27d. Calls on the Commission to explore the possibility of introducing common rules aimed at curbing tax avoidance on EU-source income achieved through interposition; stresses furthermore that such rules could be similar to those applied in the US1a; __________________ 1asee for example the « qualified intermediaries » (QI) and « qualified derivatives dealers » (QDD) regimes, as well as Section 871(m) regulations of the US Internal Revenue Code which impose US withholding tax on certain amounts arising in derivative transactions over US equities when those amounts are paid to a non-US person

Amendment 38 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the primary job creators in Europe, having created around 85 % of all new jobs in Europe21 during the last five years; whereas the Commission has stated that SMEs pay on average 30 % more in tax than multinational enterprises (MNEs); whereas aggressive tax planning is primarily practised by multinational undertakings; whereas this seriously distorts competition, leads to loss of jobs in the Union and hinders sustainable growth; __________________ 21 http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/, European Commission, 10 May 2016.

Amendment 380 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Reiterates the crucial role of whistleblowers in revealing misconduct and illegal and wrongful practices; considers that such revelations, which shine a light on the magnitude of tax evasion and avoidance, are clearly in the public interest, as demonstrated in the recent ‘Panama papers’ leak; stresses that revelations concerning individual cases must not distract attention from a phenomenon which is general and which could be in the interests of other countries that engage in the same practices to promote tax evasion and avoidance;

Amendment 381 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Reiterates the crucial role of whistleblowers in revealing misconduct and illegal ~~and wrongful p~~or unethical practices, particularly when carried out by corporations seeking only to maximise profits at the expense of the resources of public administracticons, solidarity mechanisms and public health schemes; considers that such revelations, wh~~ich~~en they shine a light on the magnitude of tax evasion and avoidance, are clearly in the public interest, as demonstrated in the recent ‘Panama papers’ leak;

Amendment 382 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Reiterates the crucial role of whistleblowers in revealing misconduct and illegal and wrongful practices; considers that such revelations, which shine a light on the magnitude of tax evasion and avoidance, are clearly in the public interest, as demonstrated in Luxleaks and the recent ‘'Panama papers’' leak; welcomes that Antoine Deltour, one of the whistleblowers at the origin of the Luxleaks received the European citizen price, honouring exceptional Europeans;

Amendment 383 #

Ildikó GÁLL-PELCZ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Recalls that the possibility to detect and prosecute tax violators is crucially dependent on data availability and data quality; Reiterates the crucial role of whistleblowers in revealing misconduct and illegal and wrongful practices; considers that such revelations, which shine a light on the magnitude of tax evasion and avoidance, are clearly in the public interest, as demonstrated in the recent ‘Panama papers’ leak;

Amendment 384 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Reiterates the crucial role of whistleblowers in revealing misconduct ~~and~~, including illegal ~~and~~or wrongful practices; considers that such revelations, which shine a light on the magnitude of tax evasion and avoidance, are clearly in the public interest, as demonstrated in the recent ‘Panama papers’ leak which showed the unexpectedly significant dimension of transferring assets to low tax jurisdictions;

Amendment 385 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Reiterates the crucial role of whistleblowers in revealing misconduct and illegal and wrongful practices; considers that such revelations, which shine a light on the magnitude of tax evasion and avoidance, are clearly in the public interest, as demonstrated in the recent ‘Panama papers’ ~~leak~~revelations; stresses that their actions must remain in compliance with national laws;

Amendment 386 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Reiterates the crucial role of whistleblowers in revealing misconduct and illegal and wrongful practices; considers that such revelations, which shine a light on the magnitude of tax evasion and avoidance, corruption, money laundering and other financial crimes, are clearly in the public interest, as demonstrated in the recent ‘'Panama papers’' leak;

Amendment 387 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Observes that the Commission is limiting its action to monitoring developments in different areas of Union competences, without planning to take any concrete steps to tackle the issue; notes that this lack of ambition could endanger the publication of new revelations, thereby potentially leading to European tax authorities losing legitimate tax revenue, besides the damage inflicted in public trust in the Union and in Member States’ actual governance capacity; regrets that the Commission has not provided a satisfactory response to the demands contained in paragraphs 144 and 145 of Parliament’'s resolution of 25 November 2015;

Amendment 388 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Observes that the Commission is limiting its action to monitoring developments in different areas of Union competences, without planning to take any concrete steps to tackle the issue; notes that this lack of ambition could endanger the publication of new revelations, thereby potentially leading to European tax authorities losing legitimate tax revenuenot planning to take any concrete steps to tackle the issue of whistleblowers but is limiting its action to monitoring the developments on this matter in different areas of competence of the Union; regrets that the Commission has not provided a satisfactory response to the demands contained in paragraphs 144 and 145 of Parliament’s resolution of 25 November 2015;

Amendment 389 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Observes that the Commission is limiting its action to monitoring developments in different areas of Union competences, without planning to take any concrete steps to tackle the issue; notes that this lack of ambition could endanger the publication of new revelations, thereby potentially leading to European tax authorities losing legitimate tax revenue; regrets that the Commission has not provided a satisfactory response to the demands contained in paragraphs 144 and 145 of Parliament’s resolution of 25 November 2015, nor to recommendation A7 of Parliament's resolution of 16 December 2015;

Amendment 39 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the primary job creators in Europe, having created around 85 % of all new jobs in Europe21 during the last five years; whereas the Commission has stated that SMEs pay on average 30 % more in tax than multinational enterprises (MNEs); whereas this seriously distorts competition, running counter to the principles of the single market, leadsing to loss of jobs in the Union and hindersing sustainable growth; __________________ 21 http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/, European Commission, 10 May 2016.

Amendment 390 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. ~~Observe~~Regrets that the Commission is limiting its action to monitoring developments in different areas of Union competences, without planning to take any concrete steps to tackle the issue; ~~notes~~is concerned that this lack of ambition could endanger the publication of new revelations, thereby potentially leading to European ~~tax authorit~~and other countries losing legitimate tax revenue; regrets that the Commission has not provided a satisfactory response to the demands contained in paragraphs 144 and 145 of Parliament’'s resolution of 25 November 2015;

Amendment 391 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Urges the Commission to propose as soon as possible a clear legal framework to guarantee the effective protection of whistleblowers, as well as of journalists and other persons connected with the press who aid and facilitate them; calls on the Member States to revise their current legislation with a view to preventing prosecution in such cases; calls for the most virtuous examples of legislation on protection of those who cooperate with judicial authorities in relation to activities linked to organised crime which are already in force in some Member States to be taken as a model;

Amendment 392 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Urges the Commission to propose as soon as possible a clear legal framework to guarantee the effective protection of whistleblowers, as well as of journalists and other persons connected with the press who aid and facilitate them; calls on the Member States to revise their current legislation with a view to preventing prosecution in such cases; considers that a credible and efficient framework should also prevent cases of unduly and detrimentally using whistleblowing as a strategy to deliberately damage the credibility of a company;

Amendment 393 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Urges the Commission to propose as soon as possible a clear legal framework to guarantee the effective protection of whistleblowers, as well as of journalists and other persons connected with the press who aid and facilitate them; calls on the Member States to revise their current legislation on the protection of whistleblowers with a view to preventing prosecution in ~~such cas~~cases in which whistleblowers have acted in nothing but the public interest;

Amendment 394 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)

30a. Considers that the recently approved Directive for the protection of commercial secrets should not be interpreted in a restrictive fashion by Member States in the sense of misusing it to prosecute whistle-blowers; In particular, considers that the said Directive does not limit the activity to whistle-blowers that reveal illegal activities but also irregular or un-ethical conduct or other activities whose knowledge is in the public interest;

Amendment 395 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. Notes, that despite the fact that its first and second Special Committees (TAXE 1 and TAXE 2) have both on repeated occasions requested full access to Code of Conduct Group documents and minutes, only a limited number of new documents have been made available for in camera consultation by MEPS, and that this was only achieved five months after the beginning of the mandate of TAXE2; stresses that these documents should have been made public to allow for public scrutiny and an open political debate on the content of these documents; notes furthermore that the willingness of the Council to satisfy this request remains unsatisfactory;

Amendment 396 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. ~~Note~~Regrets, that despite the fact that its first and second Special Committees (TAXE 1 and TAXE 2) have both on repeated occasions requested full access to Code of Conduct Group documents and minutes, only a limited number of new documents have been made available for in camera consultation by MEPSs, and that this was only achieved five months after the beginning of the mandate of TAXE2; ~~notes furthermore that the~~ condemns the unwillingness of the Council to satisfy ~~this~~our request ~~remains unsatisfactory~~to access to documents;

Amendment 397 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)

31a. Deplores furthermore the fact that inspection of such documents is precluded by confidentiality measures, and calls therefore for these documents to be published and accessible;

Amendment 398 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

32. Regrets that the Commission, despite having provided some internal minutes of the meetings of the Code of Conduct Group, was unable to keep all records of the documents distributed; considers that it is the duty of the Commission to keep all traces and records of all information and documents circulated within the remit of the Code of Conduct Group, in order to assess the compliance of the Member States’' measures pursuant to the Treaty; calls on the Commission to take ~~urgent~~ action to improve this situation ~~by retrieving all the documents~~; calls on the Council and the Member States to cooperate with the Commission on this matter;

Amendment 399 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

32. ~~Reg~~Deplorets that the Commission, despite having provided some internal minutes of the meetings of the Code of Conduct Group, was unable to keep all records of the documents distributed; considers that it is the duty of the Commission to keep all traces and records of all information and documents circulated within the remit of the Code of Conduct Group, in order to assess the compliance of the Member States’' measures pursuant to the Treaty; calls on the Commission to take urgent action to improve this situation by retrieving all the documents; calls on the Council and the Member States to cooperate with the Commission on this matter;

Amendment 4 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Citation 13

– having regard to the Commission’'s joint follow-up, as adopted ~~by it~~ on 16 March 2016, to the re~~solu~~commendations of Parliament ~~with recommendations to the Commission~~'s resolutions on bringing transparency, coordination and convergence to the corporate tax policies in the Union, and ~~the resolution of Parliament~~ on tax rulings and other measures similar in nature or effect,

Amendment 40 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the primary job creators in Europe, having created around 85 % of all new jobs in Europe21 during the last five years; whereas the Commission has stated that SMEs pay on average 30 % more in tax than multinational enterprises (MNEs); whereas this seriously distorts competition, leads to loss of jobs in the Union, fosters inequality and hinders sustainable growth; __________________ 21 http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/, European Commission, 10 May 2016.

Amendment 400 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. Notes the continuing lack of transparency of the working methods of the Code of Conduct Group, which is preventing any concrete potential improvement in terms of tackling harmful tax practices; calls on the Group to publish periodically the results of its monitoring of Member States' level of compliance with its recommendations, and to draw up an annual report, available to the public, identifying and describing the most harmful tax practices employed by Member States that year;

Amendment 401 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. Notes the continuing lack of transparency of the working methods of the Code of Conduct Group, which is preventing any concrete potential improvement in terms of tackling harmful tax practices; regrets not having received several room documents from the Code of Conduct Group emanating from the Council or the Member States which are critical to the good implementation of the Special committee's mandate;

Amendment 402 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

Amendment 403 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. ~~Notes the continuing lack of~~Calls for improved transparency of the working methods of the Code of Conduct Group~~, which is preventing any concrete potential improvement in terms of tackling harmful tax practices~~;

Amendment 404 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. Notes the continuing lack of transparency and effectiveness of the working methods of the Code of Conduct Group, which is preventing any concrete potential improvement in terms of tackling harmful tax practices;

Amendment 405 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. Notes the continuing lack of transparency of the working methods of the Code of Conduct Group, which is ~~preventing any~~one of the factors hampering concrete potential improvement in terms of tackling harmful tax practices;

Amendment 406 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. ~~Note~~Regrets the continuing lack of transparency of the working methods of the Code of Conduct Group, which is preventing any concrete potential improvement in terms of tackling harmful tax practices;

Amendment 407 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. ~~Not~~Urges t~~he continuing lack of~~o improve the transparency of the working methods of the Code of Conduct Group, which is preventing any concrete potential improvement in terms of tackling harmful tax practices;

Amendment 408 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)

33a. Considers that the inspection of the documents of the 'Code of Conduct' Group has confirmed the suspicions arising from investigations by journalists regarding the action taken by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and President of the Euro Group Jeroen Dijsselbloem to protect the interests and tax privileges of Luxembourg and the Netherlands; does not, therefore, regard their action against tax evasion and avoidance at European level as being very credible;

Amendment 409 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)

33a. Determines from public information that the Code of Conduct Group looked at 421 measures between 1998 and 2014 and considered 111 of them harmful (26%) but two-third of these measures were actually examined during the first five years of existence of the Group; notes that the scrutiny of measures by Member States has decreased over the years with only 5% of the total measures been examined in 2014 and regrets that no harmful tax measures have been found by the Group since November 2012; concludes that the Code of Conduct Group hasn't been fully working over the past decade and that its governance and mandate needs urgent revision;

Amendment 41 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the primary job creators in Europe, having created around 85 % of all new jobs in Europe21 during the last five years; whereas the ~~Commission~~OECD has stated that SMEs pay on average 30 % more in tax than multinational enterprises (MNEs); whereas this seriously distorts competition, leads to loss of jobs in the Union and hinders sustainable growth; __________________ 21 http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/, European Commission, 10 May 2016.

Amendment 410 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)

33a. Stresses that from the documents made available to TAX2, it becomes clear that the self-notification of potentially harmful measures by Member States, the criteria for identifying harmful measures as well as the unanimity principle for reaching decisions on harmfulness are outdated and ineffective;

Amendment 411 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)

33a. Reiterates its 2015 call on the Commission to provide an update to the 1999 Simmons & Simmons report on administrative practices mentioned in paragraph 26 of the 1999 Code of Conduct Group report (the Primarolo report (SN 4901/99));

Amendment 412 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 b (new)

33b. Highlights that with regard to the success of the Code Group the Commission noted in Room Document No 1 Annex 1 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of April 2006 that especially in some dependent and associated territories the proposed rollback included the introduction of a 0% rate or the complete abolition of corporate income tax and thus not every part of the work of the Code Group has resulted in a consistent or satisfactory outcome; calls, therefore, on the Member States to rectify this distortive situation;

Amendment 413 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 c (new)

33c. Underlines that the Commission noted in Room Document No 1 Annex 1 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of April 2006 that due to political compromises the Code Group has considered some rollback proposals adequate which could easily be considered as insufficient according to the principles of the Code; calls, therefore, on the Members States to re-assess systematically the compliance of rollback proposals with the Code criteria and to remedy shortcomings where needed;

Amendment 414 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 d (new)

33d. Notes that in the report from the Code Group to the Council of 7 June 2005 it was explicitly stated that in one case the Member State concerned had failed to implement the rollback as agreed; highlights that the Commission noted in Room Document No 1 Annex 1 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of April 2006 that despite this clear non- compliance the Council failed to take any action and the Member State concerned was not politically challenged or urged to comply with the Code principles and agreements; calls, therefore, on the Member States to introduce sanctions for non-compliance with decisions of the Code Group;

Amendment 415 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 e (new)

33e. Stresses that, in principle, the Code of Conduct should cover all economic sectors; highlights that the Commission noted in Room Document No 1 Annex 1 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of April 2006 that the Code Group agreed in 1999 to leave out regimes favouring the shipping sector as well as the assessment of collective investment vehicles; calls, therefore, on the Member States to examine harmful tax measures in all economic sectors;

Amendment 416 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 f (new)

33f. Regrets that several Member States refused to disclose their views on the future of the Code Group in Room Document No 1 Annex 1 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of April 2006 as regards transparency, mandate, scope and criteria of future work; notes that Hungary and Lithuania expressed reservations against amendments to the Code criteria; notes that Ireland and Poland opposed any extension of the scope of the Code on other areas of taxation;

Amendment 417 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 g (new)

33g. Highlights that in Room Document No 2 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of 11 April 2011 the Commission made several proposals for new areas of work such as expanding the work on mismatches, taxation of expatriates, taxation of wealthy individuals, review of REIT's and collective investment vehicles; notes that according to the minutes of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of 11 April 2011, the Netherlands and Luxembourg opposed expanding the work on mismatches, France expressed reserves against work on expats, wealthy individuals and investment funds, the United Kingdom supported a focus on business tax rather than an extension;

Amendment 418 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 h (new)

33h. Stresses that according to Room Document No 5 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of 7 April 2015, the Commission noted that recent work of the Code Group including that on patent boxes has highlighted limitations in the scope of the Code and weaknesses in the mandate of the Code Group and underlined that tackling complex challenges to fair taxation and safeguarding tax transparency requires more decisive action by the Code Group, and more rigorous monitoring to ensure that Member States respect their commitments;

Amendment 419 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 i (new)

33i. Underlines in this respect that several potentially harmful tax regimes have been under discussion for extremely long periods of time in the Code Group without material results as to their rollback and that several such files still remain undecided to date, for instance as regards significant elements of Gibraltar's tax code which has been under discussion since at least 11 April 2011 and is still not concluded; notes further that when comparing the Commission list of all tax regimes formally assessed by the Code Group with the respective meeting documents at the point of decision and thereafter, it is firstly in many cases unclear how a decision has been reached, e.g. why regimes for which there were grounds to suppose that they would be harmful were declared non-harmful in the end, and also, secondly, concerning those cases where attested harmfulness was the outcome of the assessment, whether the ensuing rollback procedures have been concluded satisfactorily by Member States; one among many examples in this category is the Isle of Man's retail tax scheme which was not judged harmful according to the 8 November 2013 meeting minutes despite serious doubts of its non-harmfulness expressed by several Member States;

Amendment 42 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas aggressive tax planning is defined by the Commission as taking advantage of the technicalities of a tax system or of mismatches between two or more tax systems for the purpose of reducing tax liability; whereas the Commission recognises that aggressive tax planning can take a multitude of forms which leads to tax law not applied as intended by law makers; whereas the main forms of aggressive tax planning include debt shifting, location of intangible assets and intellectual property, strategic transfer pricing, hybrid mismatches and offshore loan structures; whereas companies heard by its Special Committee have mostly reiterated that they pay a lot of taxes and their behaviour is legal; whereas only a small percentage of companies have publicly admitted yet that corporate tax avoidance is a priority to be addressed;

Amendment 420 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 j (new)

33j. Highlights that according to Room Document No 5 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of 7 April 2015 the Commission made clear proposals to increase the effectiveness of the Code Group, in particular by (a) replacing the "broad consensus" for decision making through a formal majority voting system, (b) amending the Code criteria to include measures which provide for a level of taxation below a particular effective level, (c) amending the Code's mandate to commit Member States to effectively implement and monitor agreed rollback and standstill, (d) extending the geographical scope of the Code by systematically reviewing third country regimes beyond Member States' dependent and associated territories as well as Switzerland and Liechtenstein;

Amendment 421 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. ~~Urges~~Stresses that it has become clear that the self-notification of potentially harmful measures by Member States, the criteria for identifying harmful measures as well as the unanimity principle for reaching decisions on harmfulness are outdated; regrets that several Member States are opposing a needed reform of the Code of Conduct Group; urges therefore the Member States to reform, as soon as possible, the criteria and governance aspects of the Code of Conduct Group, in order to increase its transparency, effectiveness and accountability and ensure the strong involvement of Parliament;

Amendment 422 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. ~~Urges the~~Deplores that, despite widely acknowledged failures and shortcomings of the Code Group, Member States were not able to agree on urgently needed reforms of the Code Group at the ECOFIN in March 2016 and postponed any decision on serious reforms to 2017; urges, therefore, Member States to reform, as soon as possible, the criteria and governance ~~aspects~~ of the Code of Conduct Group including its decision-making procedure, in order to increase its effectiveness, transparency and accountability and ensure the strong involvement of Parliament;

Amendment 423 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Uacknowledges that the Code of Conduct Group enabled some improvements towards a more fair EU tax competition but urges the Member States to reform, as soon as possible, the criteria and governance aspects of the Code of Conduct Group, in order to increase its transparency and accountability and ensure the strong involvement of Parliament;

Amendment 424 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Urges the Member States to reform, as soon as possible, the criteria and governance aspects of the Code of Conduct Group, in order to increase its transparency and accountability ~~and ensure the strong involvement of Parliament~~;

Amendment 425 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)

34a. Notes that a pattern of systematic obstruction by some Member States in achieving any progress on fighting tax avoidance became clear to the Special Committee; notes that discussions on administrative practices (rulings) were going on in the Code of Conduct for nearly two decades; condemns that several Member States were reluctant to agree on exchanging information about their ruling practices before Luxleaks and are still reluctant to implement in national law the model instruction developed in the Code of Conduct Group despite their commitments after the Luxleaks revelations;

Amendment 426 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 b (new)

34b. Concludes that, therefore, Member States violated their obligation for sincere cooperation enshrined in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union and that the Commission was aware of the non- compliance of certain Member States with the principle of sincere cooperation; stresses that the violation of Union law by Member States as well as non-action of the Commission against the violation of Union law by Member States need a follow-up;

Amendment 427 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 c (new)

34c. Calls on the Commission to grant Parliament permanent, timely and regular access to the room documents and minutes of the Council groups working on tax matters, including the Code of Conduct on Business Taxation, the High Level Working Group and the Working Party on Tax Questions; suggests to the Commission to use the agreement reached with the Parliament on access to SSM/ECB minutes as an example for that purpose;

Amendment 428 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

35. Calls on the Commission, in case of an unsatisfactory response on the part of the Member States, to present a legislative proposal to incorporate the Code of Conduct Group into the Community method;deleted

Amendment 429 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

Amendment 43 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas the Commission is the Guardian of the Treaties and must ensure a level playing field for all companies in the single market; whereas tax avoidance was often possible by silent collusion between multinational companies and government authorities in some Member States, whereas such collusion must be suspected to be illegal state aid, whereas in the 25 years between 1991 and 2015 the Commission concluded only 65 state aid cases; whereas the tax ruling practice in some Member States suggests that the number of actual tax-related state aid cases is much higher; whereas the procedure applied and selection criteria chosen by the Commission to start in- depth investigation of a few cases suspected of illegal state aid in the form of tax rulings is not transparent and possibly arbitrary;

Amendment 430 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

Amendment 431 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

Amendment 432 #

Marco ZANNI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

Amendment 433 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

Amendment 434 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

35. Calls on the Commission, in case of an unsatisfactory response on the part of the Member States, to present a legislative proposal under Article 116 of TFEU to incorporate the Code of Conduct Group into the Community method;

Amendment 435 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

35. Calls on the Commission, in case of an unsatisfactory response on the part of the Member States, to ~~present a legislative proposal to incorporate the Code of Conduct Group into the Community method~~keep Parliament informed about measures to improve the accountability of the Code of Conduct Group;

Amendment 436 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)

35a. Notes further that from the documents retrieved a pattern of systematic obstruction by some Member States in achieving material progress on fighting tax avoidance becomes clear; highlights that those documents show that political obstruction by Member States prevented in particular progress on harmful tax practices in the areas of patent boxes, inbound and outbound profit transfers, hybrid mismatches including profit participating loan agreements, the role of investment funds, administrative practices in particular tax rulings, and minimum effective taxation clauses;

Amendment 437 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 b (new)

35b. Stresses, with respect to the above- mentioned categories and the documents retrieved by TAX2 in particular the following instances and observations; underlines however that the following list remains non-exhaustive due in particular to the unwillingness of Member States and the Commission to grant full transparency on the workings of the Code Group and other relevant working groups of the Council by making a large number of documents, including the most recent and most politically relevant, only available in a restricted reading room and hence precluding their content from any public debate and assessment such as in this report;

Amendment 438 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 c (new)

35c. As regards patent boxes, notes that the Netherlands, Luxembourg and, to a lesser extent, Belgium have opposed an encompassing assessment of all EU patent box regimes despite grounds to suppose the harmfulness of existing regimes against the Code criteria, as evidenced by the meeting minutes from 29 May, 22 October and 20 November 2013; regrets that Spain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom have further delayed the process of reforming patent box regimes by repeatedly introducing additional demands in the decision- making progress as evidenced, inter alia, by the meeting minutes from 3 June 2014; regrets, further, that despite commitments to fully adapt national legal provisions by 30 June 2016, very limited progress has been made by Member States in implementing into national law the modified nexus approach agreed by Ministers already in December 2014 and that some countries, such as Italy, have even introduced new patent box measures, incompatible with the modified nexus approach, after agreement on the latter was found, in order to benefit from the overly generous grandfathering provisions until 2021;

Amendment 439 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 d (new)

35d. As regards inbound profit transfers, welcomes the inclusion of provisions against inbound profit transfer abuse in the anti-tax avoidance directive (ATAD), as well as the guidance agreed upon by the Code of Conduct on the matter in November 2010; notes however that since the adoption of the guidance no tangible changes to Member States' frameworks have been produced, thus underlining the limitations of the Code Group's soft law approach, and regrets that for instance in room document 3 of the September 2013 Code meeting not a single Member State expressed support for a politically binding agreement on the matter while, during the elaboration phase of the agreed guidance, in particular the United Kingdom opposed any coordinated approach, as evidenced by the 25 May 2010 meeting minutes and re-iterated in room document 3 of 17 October 2012;

Amendment 44 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas high taxes creates a competitive disadvantage for European business;

Amendment 440 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 e (new)

35e. As regards outbound profit transfers, re-iterates the particular pertinence of coordinated measures against untaxed profit outflows into zero or low tax third countries in a common market which grants privileges such as exemptions from withholding taxes for financial flows circulating inside the market; strongly deplores that Member States have not taken any serious initiative to remedy this problem as evidenced by the outright failure to agree on any follow-up to the work of the anti- abuse sub group at the 25 May 2010 Code meeting and by the complete lack of provisions regarding outbound payments in the anti-tax avoidance directive (ATAD); is concerned that this is due to pressure by specific Member States as exemplified by the statements of Belgium and the Netherlands at the 15 May 2009 meeting according to which they object to any initiative aimed at coordinating defence measures against untaxed outbound profit transfers;

Amendment 441 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 f (new)

35f. As regards hybrid mismatches, welcomes the inclusion of provisions against hybrid mismatch abuse in the anti-tax avoidance directive (ATAD), as well as the outcomes in terms of guidance agreed upon by the Code of Conduct Sub- Group in September 2014 as well as April and July 2015, but notes at the same time that repeated and systematic initiatives by certain Member States prevented a much earlier agreement on these harmful practices, which have been under active debate in the Code Group since at least 2008, thereby significantly increasing the on-going fiscal damage created by the recurrent use of those schemes for aggressive tax planning purposes; regrets that in particular the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as Malta and Estonia to a lesser extent, have for long delayed swift collective action by asserting that hybrids should not dealt with under the Code at all, as evidenced by meeting minutes of 15 May and 29 June 2009 as well as 25 May 2010, and minutes of the anti-abuse sub group of 25 March and 22 April 2010;

Amendment 442 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 g (new)

35g. As regards investment funds, is concerned that work streams in the Code of Conduct Group on the role of various types of funds in harmful tax practices have come to a halt since September 2011, where Member States agreed to discontinue the discussion about these schemes' alleged and potential harmfulness, as evidenced by the 13 September meeting minutes; regrets the initiatives taken by the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and the Netherlands during the Code meetings of 11 April and 26 May 2011 which effectively pushed the group to not pursue this field of action further;

Amendment 443 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 h (new)

35h. As regards administrative practices, notes the failure of Member States to exchange information on rulings as reported in the publicly available Annex of Room Document No. 2 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of 4 March 2010 according to which no Member State had spontaneously and systematically exchanged information about its rulings in the past; notes that another monitoring exercise of the Code of Conduct Group reported in the publicly available Room Document No 4 of the Code of Conduct Group Meeting of 10 September 2012 showed that in practice no information on rulings had been exchanged on a spontaneous basis; highlights that, therefore, Member States did not comply with the obligations set out in Council Directives 77/799/EEC and 2011/16/EU since they did not spontaneously exchange tax information, even in cases where there were clear grounds, despite the margin of discretion left by those directives, for expecting that there may be tax losses in other Member States, or that tax savings may result from artificial transfers of profits within groups; stresses that the Commission did not fulfil its role of guardian of the Treaties, as established in Article 17(1) TEU, by not acting in this matter and taking all necessary steps to ensure that they comply with their obligations, in particular those set out in Council Directives 77/799/EEC and 2011/16/EU, despite evidence to the contrary;

Amendment 444 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 i (new)

35i. As regards minimum effective taxation clauses, regrets the failure of Member States to agree, since the release of the respective Commission proposal in 2011, on a revision of the Interest and Royalties Directive ensuring that privileges granted in the single market with the aim of preventing double taxation do not in reality lead to zero or almost zero taxation; is concerned that following several Member States' interventions the December 2015 ECOFIN conclusions do not go beyond inviting the High Level Working Party on Tax Questions (HLWP) to look into the matter further, instead of committing to prompt and effective action;

Amendment 445 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 j (new)

35j. Concludes that, based on this non- exhaustive list of instances evidenced by the documents made available to TAX2, Member States violated their obligation for sincere cooperation enshrined in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union and that the Commission was aware of the non-compliance of certain Member States with the principle of sincere cooperation; stresses that the violation of Union law by Member States as well as non-action of the Commission against the violation of Union law by Member States need a follow up, inter alia through political reforms in Council and Commission as well as through public debate in Parliament in order to hold accountable the responsible governments and persons;

Amendment 446 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 k (new)

35k. Stresses that political office holders which bear responsibility for breaches of community law as detailed in the TAXE 1 report or for the obstruction of progress against harmful tax practices as evidenced by the Code of Conduct Group documents should take full responsibility for their conduct including considering resignation from their office where appropriate in order to restore trust of citizens in representatives of the European Union and its Member States;

Amendment 447 #

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36

36. Calls on the Commission to include in the framework of the European Semester reporting of what measures the Member States take towards effective taxation and to enhance efforts against harmful cross-border tax practices and tax evasion, including recommendations for strengthening national tax administrations;deleted

Amendment 448 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36

36. Calls on the Commission to include in the framework of the European Semester reporting of what measures the Member States take towards effective and fair taxation and to enhance efforts against harmful cross- border tax practices and tax evasion, including tax amnesties, tax exemptions or tax benefits granted to MNEs and any companies established in their own "free trade zones", "dependent territories " and preferred jurisdictions for offshore incorporation, including recommendations for strengthening national tax administrations;

Amendment 449 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36

36. Calls on the Commission to include in the framework of the European Semester reporting of what measures the Member States take towards effective taxation and to enhance efforts against harmful cross- border tax practices and tax evasion, including recommendations for strengthening national tax administrations; and administrative cooperation between them;

Amendment 45 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas close to one third of ~~all~~cross- border corporate investments are channelled through offshore financial constructions; whereas the Commission notes that 72% of profit shifting in the European Union makes use of transfer pricing and tax-effective location of intellectual property and that the remaining profit shifting schemes involve debt-shifting1a ; __________________ 1a https://polcms.secure.europarl.europa.eu/ cmsdata/upload/a0cf64ee-8e0d-4b5f- b145- 6ffbaa940e10/TheRoleFinancialSectorTa xPlanning_Draft_210316.pdf

Amendment 450 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36

36. Calls on the Commission to include in the framework of the European Semester reporting of what measures the Member States take towards ~~effective taxation and to~~ enhanceing efforts against harmful ~~cross- border~~ tax practices and tax evasion, including recommendations for strengthening national tax administrations;

Amendment 451 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37

37. Calls for urgent action against tax fraud, tax evasion, tax havens and aggressive tax planning, both from the demand and the supply sides; regrets that the Council has for a number of years impeded decisive action on these issues, and reminds Member States of the possibility available to them of establishing systems of enhanced cooperation (between at least 9 Member States) in order to speed up action on harmful and illegal tax practices;

Amendment 452 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37

37. Calls for urgent action against tax fraud, tax evasion, tax havens and aggressive tax planning; regrets that certain Member States within the Council hasve for a number of years impeded decisive action on these issues, and reminds Member States of the possibility available to them of establishing systems of enhanced cooperation (between at least 9 Member States) in order to speed up action on harmful and illegal tax practices;

Amendment 453 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37

37. Calls for urgent action against tax fraud, tax evasion, tax havens and aggressive tax planning; regrets that the Council has for a number of years ~~impeded~~not taken any decisive action on these issues, and reminds Member States of the possibility available to them of establishing systems of enhanced cooperation (between at least 9 Member States) in order to speed up action on harmful and illegal tax practices;

Amendment 454 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

~~38. Calls for the creation of a new Union Tax Policy Coherence and Coordination Centre to guarantee the proper and co~~deleted (The tasks outlined are already the re~~nt functioning of the single market and the implementation of international standards; believes that this new body should be in charg~~sponsibility of the Commission and the 'Code of mConitoring Member States’ tax policies at Union level, of ensuring that no new harmful tax measures are implemented by Member States, of monitoring compliance of Member States with the common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions, of ensuring and fostering cooperation between national tax administrations (e.g. training and exchange of best practices), and of initiating academic programmes in the field; believes that by doing so this Centre could help prevent new tax loopholes emerging thanks to uncoordinated policy initiatives between Member States, and counteract tax practices and standards that would upset, obstruct or interfere in the proper functioning and rationale of the single market; considers that the Centre could benefit from the pooling of expertise at Union and national level, so as to reduce the burden on the taxpayer;duct' working group. The focus should be on ensuring that these two bodies in fact carry out their tasks. It is questionable whether a further body would provide any added value.)

Amendment 455 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. Calls for the creation of a new Union Tax Policy Coherence and Coordination Centre to guarantee the proper and coherent functioning of the single market and the implementation of international standards; believes that this new body should be in charge of monitoring Member States’ tax policies at Union level, of ensuring that no new harmful tax measures are implemented by Member States, of monitoring compliance of Member States with the common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions, of ensuring and fostering cooperation between national tax administrations (e.g. training and exchange of best practices), and of initiating academic programmes in the field; believes that by doing so this Centre could help prevent new tax loopholes emerging thanks to uncoordinated policy initiatives between Member States, and counteract tax practices and standards that would upset, obstruct or interfere in the proper functioning and rationale of the single market; considers that the Centre could benefit from the pooling of expertise at Union and national level, so as to reduce the burden on the taxpayer;deleted

Amendment 456 #

Marco ZANNI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

Amendment 457 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

Amendment 458 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

Amendment 459 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

Amendment 46 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas supposedly one third of all corporate investments are channelled through offshore financial constructions;

Amendment 460 #

Tibor SZANYI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. Calls for the creation of a new Union Tax Policy Coherence and Coordination Centre to guarantee the proper and coherent functioning of the single market and the implementation of international standards; believes that this new body should be in charge of monitoring Member States’ tax policies at Union level, of ensuring that no new harmful tax measures are implemented by Member States, of monitoring compliance of Member States with the common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions, of ensuring and fostering cooperation between national tax administrations (e.g. training and exchange of best practices), and of initiating academic programmes in the field; believes that by doing so this Centre could help prevent new tax loopholes emerging thanks to uncoordinated policy initiatives between Member States, and counteract tax practices and standards that would upset, obstruct or interfere in the proper functioning and rationale of the single market; believes that this body could also serve as a point of contact for whistleblowers, in case Member States and national tax administrations do not act upon the revelation of tax evasion and avoidance or do not carry out appropriate investigation on the matter; considers that the Centre could benefit from the pooling of expertise at Union and national level, so as to reduce the burden on the taxpayer;

Amendment 461 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. Calls for the creation of a new Union Tax Policy Coherence and Coordination Centre to guarantee the proper and coherent functioning of the single market and the implementation of international standards; believes that this new body should be in charge of monitoring Member States’ tax policies at Union level, of ensuring that no new harmful tax measures are implemented by Member States, of monitoring compliance of Member States with the common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions, of ensuring and fostering cooperation between national tax administrations (e.g. training and exchange of best practices), and tof initiat~~ing~~e academic programmes in the field; believes that by doing so this C~~entre~~ode of Conduct Group could help prevent new tax loopholes emerging thanks to uncoordinated policy initiatives between Member States, and counteract tax practices and standards that would upset, obstruct or interfere in the proper functioning and rationale of the single market; ~~considers that the Centre could benefit from the pooling of expertise at Union and national level, so as to reduce the burden on the taxpayer;~~

Amendment 462 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. Calls for the creation of a new Union Tax Policy Coherence and Coordination Centre to guarantee the proper and coherent functioning of the single market and the implementation of international standards; believes that this new body shcould be in charge ~~of monitoring Member States’ tax policies at Union level, of ensuring that no new~~d with assessing whether harmful tax measures are being implemented by Member States, of monitoring compliance of Member States with the common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions, of ensuring and fostering cooperation between national tax administrations (e.g. training and exchange of best practices), and of initiating academic programmes in the field; believes that by doing so this Centre could help prevent new tax loopholes emerging thanks to uncoordinated policy initiatives between Member States, and counteract tax practices and standards that would upset, obstruct or interfere in the proper functioning and rationale of the single market; considers that the Centre could benefit from the pooling of expertise at Union and national level, so as to reduce the burden on the taxpayer;

Amendment 463 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)

38a. Calls on the European Commission and the Member States to object to Third Countries' legislation having extraterritorial effects unless the EU has been offered to apply a similar mechanism in these jurisdictions;

Amendment 464 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39

39. Welcomes the renewed focus at G8 and G20 level on tax issues, which should lead to new recommendations; calls on the Commission to maintain a coherent position on behalf of the Union at the upcoming G20 meetings and ad hoc symposia; requests the Commission to inform Parliament about all findings and possible consequences of G20 decisions on combating corporate tax base erosion ~~and~~, aggressive tax planning practices and any illicit financial flows;

Amendment 465 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39

39. Welcomes the renewed focus at G8 and G20 level on tax issues, which should lead to new recommendations; calls on the Commission to maintain a coherent position on behalf of the Union at the upcoming G20 meetings and ad hoc symposia; requests the Commission to regularly inform Parliament about ~~all~~the findings and possible consequences of G20 decisions on combating corporate tax base erosion and aggressive tax planning practices;

Amendment 466 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)

39a. Welcomes the international development of interparliamentary cooperation and calls for it to be enhanced, in particular within the OECD; welcomes in particular in this cooperative context the constructive exchanges of delegations from the TAXE 2 Special Committee with representatives of both the OECD national parliaments and the US Congress in Washington;

Amendment 467 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)

39a. Calls for an international summit against tax evasion under the framework of the United Nation to have a global debate on the matter, leading to an international tax evasion agreement, modelled on the international climate agreement COP, which will contain concrete targets for worldwide action on tax evasion;

Amendment 468 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40

40. Calls on the Union, the G20, the OECD and the UN to cooperate further to promote global guidelines that will also be beneficial to developing countries and counter the illicit financial flows affecting them, namely by assisting them in recovering stolen resources; urges the EU and Member States to actively promote the creation of a United Nations intergovernmental tax body, with inclusive norm-setting capacity, adequate resources and universal relevance and participation, ensuring that all countries can participate on an equal footing in the formulation and reform of global tax policies; calls the EU and the Member States to start working on an ambitious global tax summit aiming at the creation of such intergovernmental body;

Amendment 469 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40

40. Calls on the Union, the G20, the OECD and the UN to cooperate further to promote global guidelines that will also be beneficial to developing countries; reiterates its conclusions from report 2015/2058(INI) that the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters shall be transformed into a genuine intergovernmental body equipped with additional resources, and centralising efforts aimed at reforming the global tax system, ensuring that developing countries can participate equally in the global reform of existing international tax rules;

Amendment 47 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas bilateral tax treaties allocate taxing rights between source and residence countries; whereas source countries often are allocated the right to tax active business income provided a permanent establishment exists in the source countries and residence countries obtain taxing rights over passive income such as dividends, royalties and interest; whereas such division of taxing rights is essential to understand aggressive tax planning schemes;

Amendment 470 #

Ildikó GÁLL-PELCZ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40

40. Calls on the Union, the G20, the OECD and the UN to cooperate further to promote global guidelines that will also be beneficial to developing countries; encourages the Member States to offer cooperation and assistance to third countries which are developing countries and are not tax havens, helping them to tackle tax fraud and tax avoidance effectively, in particular through capacity- building measures;

Amendment 471 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40

40. Calls on the Union, the G20, the OECD and the UN to cooperate further to promote global guidelines that will also be beneficial to developing countries; developing countries must be involved, on an equal footing, in drawing up and adopting these guidelines, which must cover both topics of interest to developed countries and the particular issues affecting the poorest countries.

Amendment 472 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40

40. Calls on the Union, the G20, the OECD and the UN to cooperate further to promote global guidelines that will also be beneficial to developing countries; calls on the Commission and Member States to support the creation of a Global Tax Body under the auspices of the UN, as recommended by the Parliament in a resolution in July 2015;

Amendment 473 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)

40a. Supports the creation of a global body, within the UN framework, well equipped and with sufficient additional resources, ensuring that all countries can participate on an equal footing in the formulation and reform of global tax policies; calls the EU and on the Member States to start working on an ambitious Global Tax Summit and aiming a creating such intergovernmental body;

Amendment 474 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)

40a. Reiterates its call on the Commission and the Member States to conduct spill-over analysis of national and EU tax policies, in order to assess the impact on developing countries and remove policies and practices which negatively affect them;

Amendment 475 #

Ildikó GÁLL-PELCZ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)

40a. Points out that illicit outflows are a major explanation for developing country debt, while aggressive tax planning is contrary to the principles of corporate social responsibility;

Amendment 476 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)

40a. Asks the Commission to fully support the project of an International Tax Body in the framework of the UN, in line with the proposal of the Addis-Ababa Summit of July, 2015;

Amendment 477 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 b (new)

40b. Calls on international fora to agree on a more stringent and precise definition on beneficial ownership to ensure increased transparency;

Amendment 478 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Calls on the Commission to include in all trade and partnership agreements good governance clauses~~, including an effective and comprehensive implementation of BEPS measures and global automatic exchange of information standards~~;

Amendment 479 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

Amendment 48 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas 60% of all world trade is intragroup, and therefore subject to transfer pricing methodologies; whereas 70% of all profit shifting is done through transfer pricing;

Amendment 480 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Calls on the Commission to include in all trade and partnership agreements good governance clauses, ~~including an effective and comprehensive implementation of BEPS measures and global automatic exchange of information standard~~and ensure that trade and partnership agreements cannot be misused by companies or intermediaries to avoid and evade taxes or launder revenues from illegal activities;

Amendment 481 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Calls on the Commission to include in all trade and partnership agreements good governance clauses, including an effective and comprehensive implementation of ~~BEPS measures and~~ global automatic exchange of information standards;

Amendment 482 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42

42. Calls on the OECD to start work on an ambitious BEPS II, to be based primarily on minimum standards and concrete objectives for implementation; considers that monitoring implementation is the new challenge ahead; stresses that the coordination between the Commission and the Member States which are members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) should be improved in order for the EU to make its voice heard;

Amendment 483 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42

42. Calls on ~~the OECD~~international instances to start working on an ambitious BEPS II project, to be based primarily on minimum standards and concrete objectives for implementation; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that all countries interested in participating is granted participation on equal footing in all phases of the project;

Amendment 484 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42

42. Calls on the OECD to start work on an ambitious BEPS II, to be based primarily on minimum standards and concrete objectives for implementation; stresses the need for detailed implementation guidelines, for developing countries in particular, as well as the monitoring of the development of new harmful taxation measures;

Amendment 485 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42

42. ~~Calls on the OECD to start work on an ambitious BEPS II, to be based primarily on minimum standards and concrete objectives for implementation~~Reiterates its call for the transformation of the UN taxation committee into a genuine intergovernmental body, to ensure that all countries can participate on an equal footing in the formulation and reform of global tax policies, starting with an ambitious BEPS II;

Amendment 486 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42

42. Calls on the OECD to ~~start work on an ambitious BEPS II, to be based primarily on minimum standards and concrete obj~~focus on the full and effective~~s for~~ implementation of BEPS I;

Amendment 487 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42

42. Calls on the OECD to ~~start work on an ambitious BEPS II, to be based primarily on minimum standards and concrete objectives for implementation~~focus on the successful implementation of BEPS to ensure that Member States have a coordinated approach against harmful tax practices;

Amendment 488 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43

~~43. Calls, in this regard, for the creation of a parliamentary monitoring group at OECD level to observe and scrutinise the formulation and implementation of this initiative;~~deleted

Amendment 489 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)

43a. Calls for the establishment of a structured dialogue between the European Parliament and the US Congress on international tax issues; suggests to set up formal interparliamentary fora to deal with these issues, and to utilise the existing Transatlantic Legislators´ Dialogue framework in this regard; encourages the EU and the US to cooperate on the implementation of the OECD BEPS project; takes notes of a significant lack of reciprocity between the US and the EU in the framework of the FATCA agreement; encourages enhanced cooperation between the US and the EU in the framework of the FATCA agreement to ensure reciprocity and invites all involved parties to proactively take part in its implementation;

Amendment 49 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)

Db. whereas accounting practices consist in portraying the corporation's financial state by matching revenues and expenses, and gains and losses to the calendar period in which they arise, rather than to the period in which the cash flows actually take place; whereas if taxable income passes from one jurisdiction to another, and both treat it in a different manner, the opportunity to exploit mismatches arises; whereas though royalty payments can be justified for business purposes, without proper fiscal coordination, they can receive favourable tax treatment in one country leading to an erosion of the tax base in other countries;

Amendment 490 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)

43a. Welcomes the pilot project for the automatic exchange of beneficial ownership information between tax authorities launched last April by the five largest EU Member States; calls, as it is the stated intention of these countries, for this initiative to be extended and to constitute the basis for a global standard of information exchange similar to the one existing for financial account information;

Amendment 491 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44

44. Calls for the establishment of a Union register of beneficial ownership, which would form the basis of a global initiative in this regard. This public EU register must contain a minimum amount of information on: (i) the accounts associated with companies, foundations, trusts and other intermediary vehicles and their owners; (ii) the ultimate beneficiaries of the funds and assets; (iii) all intermediaries, trustees and managers of these bodies and legal entities; stresses the vital role of institutions such as the OECD and the UN in this connection;

Amendment 492 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44

44. Calls ~~for the establishment of a Union register of beneficial ownership~~, as the next step in the process of enhancing the availability of beneficial ownership information and the effectiveness of the exchange of such information, for the establishment of a Union register of beneficial ownership accessible to tax authorities and presenting all necessary data protection safeguards, which would form the basis of a global initiative in this regard; stresses the vital role of institutions such as the OECD and the UN in this connection;

Amendment 493 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44

44. Calls for the establishment of a single Union register of beneficial ownership of all corporate entities established in Member States, including harmonised standards of access to beneficial ownership information and transparency, which would form the basis of a global initiative in this regard; stresses the vital role of institutions such as the OECD and the UN in this connection;

Amendment 494 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44

44. Calls for the establishment of a publicly accessible Union register of beneficial ownership, covering both companies and trusts, which would form the basis of a global initiative in this regard; stresses the vital role of institutions such as the OECD and the UN in this connection;

Amendment 495 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44

44. Calls for the establishment of a public Union register of beneficial ownership, accessible in an open data format, which would form the basis of a global initiative in this regard; stresses the vital role of institutions such as the OECD and the UN in this connection;

Amendment 496 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44

44. Calls for the establishment of a Union public register of both legal and beneficial ownership, which would form the basis of a global initiative in this regard; stresses the vital role of institutions such as the OECD and the UN in this connection;

Amendment 497 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44

44. Calls for the establishment of a Union public register of beneficial ownership, which would form the basis of a global initiative in this regard; stresses the vital role of institutions such as the OECD and the UN in this connection;

Amendment 498 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45

~~45. Calls for a global assets register of all assets held by individuals, companies and all entities such as trusts and foundations, to which tax authorities would have full access;~~deleted

Amendment 499 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45

~~45. Calls for a global assets register of all assets held by individuals, companies and all entities such as trusts and foundations, to which tax authorities would have full access;~~deleted

Amendment 5 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Citation 17

– having regard to the resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of 1 December 1997 on a code of conduct for business taxation12 7a, and to the regular reports to the Council of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation ~~Group~~, __________________ 127a OJ C 2, 6.1.1998, p. 2.

Amendment 50 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas convergence of tax policies should also be accompanied by greater controls and more investigations of harmful tax practices; whereas the Commission has started new formal investigations regarding tax treatment of MNEs; whereas the assessment of tax policy measures from a State aid point of view is an approach that has recently gained in importance; whereas further reflection and measures in order to better understand and address the interplay between taxation and competition are necessary; whereas a number of investigations by the Commission in matters of state aid were still ongoing at the time of adoption of this report; whereas certain Member States have initiated recovery procedures against some MNECs;

Amendment 500 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45

45. Calls for a global assets register of all assets held by individuals, companies and all entities such as trusts and foundations, to which tax authorities would have full access; emphasises, however, that the ability of Member States to protect this confidential information against unauthorised access and to guarantee that human and fundamental rights are upheld must be prerequisites for access to the register and the exchange of information;

Amendment 501 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45

45. Calls, as the ultimate goal, for a global assets register of all assets held by individuals, companies and all entities such as trusts and foundations, to which tax authorities would have full access and which would include appropriate safeguards to protect the confidentiality of the information retained therein;

Amendment 502 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45

45. Calls for a public global assets register of all assets held by individuals, companies and all entities such as trusts and foundations, to which tax authorities would have full access;

Amendment 503 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

Amendment 504 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

46. Stresses the need for a comprehensive ~~EU/US~~ approach on the implementation of OECD standards and on beneficial ownership; stresses furthermore that good governance clauses and the full BEPS action plan should be included in the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) in order to ensure a level playing field, create more value for society as a whole and combat tax fraud and avoidance;

Amendment 505 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

46. Stresses the need for a comprehensive EU/US approach on the implementation of OECD standards and on beneficial ownership; stresses furthermore that good governance clauses and the full BEPS action plan should be included in the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) in order to become mandatory and ensure a level playing field, create more value for society as a whole and combat tax fraud and avoidance and secrecy jurisdictions worldwide; stresses that only in this way will the TTIP ever deliver in the ambition to influence global economic and political regulation and enable fair and effective governance in the transatlantic area;

Amendment 506 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

Amendment 507 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

Amendment 508 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

46. ~~Stress~~Underlines the need for a co~~mprehensiv~~nsistence EU/US approach ~~on t~~when implementation of OECD standards and on beneficial ownership; stresses furthermore that good governance clauses and the full BEPS action plan should be included in the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) in order to ensure a level playing field, create more value for society as a whole and combat tax fraud and avoidanceing BEPS recommendations in order to ensure a level playing field between EU and US;

Amendment 509 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

46. Stresses the need for a comprehensive ~~EU/US~~international approach on the implementation of OECD standards and on beneficial ownership; ~~stresses furthermore that good governance clauses and the full BEPS action plan should be included in the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP)~~ in order to ensure a level playing field, create more value for society as a whole and combat tax fraud and avoidance;

Amendment 51 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas convergence of tax policies should also be accompanied by greater controls and more investigations of harmful tax practices; whereas the Commission has started new formal investigations regarding tax treatment of MNEs; whereas a number of investigations by the Commission in matters of state aid were still ongoing at the time of adoption of this report; whereas certain Member States have initiated recovery procedures against some MNEs but at this stage and to our knowledge, despite three decisions by the Commission of recovery for illegal tax state aids, only Luxembourg has recovered the amount due and all of them have appealed the decisions of the Commission;

Amendment 510 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

46. Stresses the need for a comprehensive EU/US approach on the implementation of OECD standards and on beneficial ownership; ~~stresses furthermore that good governance clauses and the full BEPS action plan should be included~~ emphasizes that unilateral steps by the EU beyond BEPS may have detrimental effects on future US willingness to agree on bi- or multilateral measures as the US might be frustrated with seeing the ~~Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) in order to ensure a level playing field,~~EU just acting as it pleases, regrets that this might have negative repercussions on the aim of createing more value for society as a whole and combating tax fraud and avoidance;

Amendment 511 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

46. Stresses the need for a common and comprehensive EU/US approach on the implementation of OECD standards and on beneficial ownership; stresses furthermore that good governance clauses ~~and the full BEPS action plan~~ should be included in the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) in order to ensure a level playing field, create more value for society as a whole and combat tax fraud and avoidance and achieve a leadership by transatlantic partners in the promotion of tax good governance;

Amendment 512 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

46. Stresses the need for a comprehensive ~~EU/US~~international approach on the implementation of OECD standards and on beneficial ownership; stresses furthermore that good governance clauses and the full BEPS action plan should be included ~~in the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP)~~all relevant economic international agreements in order to ensure a level playing field, create more value for society as a whole and combat tax fraud and avoidance;

Amendment 513 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

Amendment 514 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)

46a. Notes that in some cases, trade agreements can also be used to hinder the work against tax fraud and avoidance, and calls for close attention to these risks in trade negotiation conducted by the EU;

Amendment 515 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)

46a. Calls on the Commission to proceed to a general review of membership conditions of Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the EFTA ; with regard to the TAXE 2 committee hearings, and considering that its work has shown that the European Commission, in charge of checking the compliance of candidate countries regarding the state aid rules, had declared their business and tax law fully in line with the European competition law, which might not be the case anymore;

Amendment 516 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)

46a. Calls on the Member States to recover the sums diverted from their tax resources through illegal or abusive arrangements or strategies, and to use all the resources available under their tax control legislation for this purpose; recommends, moreover, that they do not compromise by accepting excessively small amounts, which could act as an undue reward for avoidance strategies, particularly in respect of the most profitable multinationals that have made widespread use of such strategies;

Amendment 517 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47

47. Calls on all national parliaments to work together to ensure proper control and coherence of tax systems between Member States; calls for national parliaments to remain vigilant as to the decisions of their governments in this matter and to increase their own commitment to the work of interparliamentary forums on tax matters; regrets that its Special Committee could not invite former or current Ministers of Finance, as done for the Special Committee TAXE, especially Mr Juncker as former Minister of Finance of Luxembourg and Mr Dijsselbloem as current Minister of Finance of the Netherlands; calls on the Parliament to create a sub-committee on taxation within its economic and monetary affairs committee to ensure proper follow-up of TAXE and TAX2's recommendations;

Amendment 518 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47

Amendment 519 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 a (new)

47a. Calls on the Commission to investigate all cases of illegal state aid brought to its attention in order to ensure equality of treatment before the law in the Union; calls on the Commission to issue decision with recovery in all cases where the alleged tax advantage is considered illegal state aid; is concerned by allegations that Luxembourg could be granting oral rulings in order to circumvent its obligation to share information under the directive on administrative cooperation; calls on the Commission to carefully monitor and report whether Member States are replacing one harmful practice by another after legislative progress has been achieved in the Union; calls on the Commission to monitor and report any case of market distortion due to the granting of specific tax advantage;

Amendment 52 #

Marju LAURISTIN, Ana GOMES

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas convergence of tax policies should also be accompanied by greater controls and more investigations of harmful tax practices; whereas the Commission has started new formal investigations regarding tax treatment of MNEs; whereas a number of investigations by the Commission in matters of state aid were still ongoing at the time of adoption of this report; whereas certain Member States have initiated recovery procedures against some MNEs; whereas the Commission should not only investigate a limited number of dubious tax treatments but consider in a non-selective and unbiased way all cases suspected to be illegal state aid by means of preferential tax treatments;

Amendment 520 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 a (new)

47a. Stresses the potential of digital solutions for effective tax collection in gathering tax data directly from operations in the sharing economy and in lowering the overall workload of tax authorities in Member States;

Amendment 521 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 a (new)

47a. Underlines that it is the responsibility of the tax authority in every nation in cooperation with each other to secure that taxes are paid and to define where taxes shall be paid dependent on the character of the business;

Amendment 522 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 b (new)

47b. Underlines that the responsibility for fighting tax evasion is national competence and it must be a point of departure for the European efforts against tax evasion to ensure that Member States adopts and follows the OECD recommendations;

Amendment 523 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48

48. Regrets deeply that the timeframe for the present report has not allowed for a thorough examination of the ‘Panama Papers’ case; stresses the urgent need for a full and proper follow-up by Parliament in this regard; underlines the immense political importance of analysing the modus operandi of the companies and private citizens involved with the Panama papers scandal with a view to tackling legislative loopholes; considers it essential to clarify the role played by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in this regard, in order to assess whether his action within the Council may not have served to defend private interests;

Amendment 524 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48

48. ~~Regrets deeply that the timeframe for the present report has not allowed for a thorough examination of the ‘Panama Papers’ case~~Takes note of the so-called ‘Panama Papers’ leak that shed light on the use of shell companies by private citizens in order to conceal taxable assets; stresses the urgent need for a full and proper follow-up by Parliament in this regard; underlines the immense political importance of analysing the modus operandi of the companies ~~and private citizens~~ involved ~~with~~in the ~~Panama papers scandal~~practices described with a view to tackling legislative loopholes; welcomes therefore the establishment of a Committee of inquiry dedicated to the investigation of these revelations;

Amendment 525 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48

48. Regrets deeply that the timeframe for the present report has not allowed for a thorough examination of the ‘'Panama Papers’' case; ~~stress~~welcomes the Eur~~gent need for a full and proper follow-up by Parliament in this regard~~opean Parliament decision to set-up an inquiry committee in this regard and to continue working on tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering; underlines the immense political importance of analysing the modus operandi of the companies and private citizens involved with the Panama papers scandal with a view to tackling legislative loopholes;

Amendment 526 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48

Amendment 527 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49

Amendment 528 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49

49. Notes that the Panama Papers scandal has documented systematic use of shell companies by private citizens in order to conceal taxable assets, although this specific issue could not be dealt with sufficiently within the mandate or timeframe of the Special Committee; is of the firm conviction that this subject must be addressed swiftly by ~~Parliament~~the upcoming inquiry committee; is concerned that some Member States have very low requirements for the establishment of companies and calls, therefore, on the Commission to make proposals for minimum standards for the establishment of companies; calls on the Commission to withdraw its proposal on single-member private limited liability companies;

Amendment 529 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49

Amendment 53 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas convergence of tax policies should also be accompanied by greater controls and more investigations of harmful tax practices; whereas the Commission has started new formal investigations regarding tax treatment of MNEs; whereas a number of investigations by the Commission in matters of state aid were still ongoing at the time of adoption of this report; whereas certain Member States have initiated recovery procedures against some MNEs; whereas certain member states have carried out spill-over analysis of their domestic tax policies to assess the negative impacts on developing countries;

Amendment 530 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49

49. Notes that the Panama Papers scandal has documented systematic use of shell companies by private citizens in order to conceal taxable assets and the proceeds of corruption and organised crime, although this specific issue could not be dealt with sufficiently within the mandate or timeframe of the Special Committee; is of the firm conviction that this subject must be addressed swiftly by Parliament, namely in the context of the investigation on the Panama Papers;

Amendment 531 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49

49. Notes that the Panama Papers scandal has documented systematic use of shell companies by companies as well as private citizens in order to conceal taxable assets, although this specific issue could not be dealt with sufficiently within the mandate or timeframe of the Special Committee; is of the firm conviction that this subject must be addressed swiftly by Parliament;

Amendment 532 #

Tibor SZANYI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49 a (new)

49a. Calls on all Member States to implement rigorous controlled foreign company regimes in order to prevent profit shifting to no or low tax countries;

Amendment 533 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50

50. Notes, that further work is needed on access to documents of the Member States, the Commission and the Code of Conduct Group; reiterates that further analysis of the documents already made available to Parliament is needed in order to adequately gauge the need for further political action and policy initiatives; calls on the upcoming inquiry committee to continue this work and adopt a different format to the Special Committee, which follows more closely an interrogative committee, such as the Public Accounts Committee in the UK;

Amendment 534 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50 a (new)

50a. Calls the Council to fully take advantage of the consultation procedure with the Parliament, in particular this means waiting for the input from the Parliament before reaching a political agreement, and striving to take on board the Parliament´s position;

Amendment 535 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50 b (new)

50b. Calls on the AFCO Committee to analyse empirically the success rate of the consultation procedure in the field of taxation but not only;

Amendment 536 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50 c (new)

50c. Notes that in a future reform of the Treaties co-decision by the Parliament should be extended to fiscal matters;

Amendment 537 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50 d (new)

50d. Notes that in a future reform of the Treaties Qualified Majority Voting in the Council should be extended to fiscal matters;

Amendment 538 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51

51. Commits to continuing the work initiated by its Special Committee, addressing the obstacles ~~that prevented it from completing its full~~encountered in the fulfilment of its mandate, and ensuring a proper follow-up of its recommendations; instructs its competent authorities to identify the best institutional set-up for achieving this;

Amendment 539 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52

52. Calls on ~~its~~the competent standing committee ~~to follow up on these recommendations in its upcoming legislative initiative report on the same topic~~and the future subcommittee on EU tax policy to follow up on these recommendations;

Amendment 54 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Sven GIEGOLD

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas convergence of tax policies should also be accompanied by greater controls and more investigations of harmful tax practices; whereas the Commission has started new formal investigations regarding tax treatment of MNEs; whereas a number of investigations by the Commission in matters of state aid in connection with Member States tax practices were still ongoing at the time of adoption of this report; whereas certain Member States have initiated recovery procedures against some MNEs;

Amendment 540 #

Motion for a resolution
Annexes 3 a to 3 b 4 (new)

Insert, as new annexes to the report, mission reports for Cyprus and the United States visited by TAXE delegations

Amendment 541 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Sven GIEGOLD

Motion for a resolution
Annex 4 (new)

Insert, as new annex to the report, the ECON/TAXE table comparing European Parliament’s recommendations with Commission’s answers.

Amendment 55 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas co~~nvergence~~ordination of tax policies should also be accompanied by greater controls and more investigations of harmful tax practices; whereas the Commission has started new formal investigations regarding tax treatment of MNEs; whereas a number of investigations by the Commission in matters of state aid were still ongoing at the time of adoption of this report; whereas certain Member States have initiated recovery procedures against some MNEs;

Amendment 56 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas the European Parliament insisted on introducing measures to safeguard tax revenues in the « 2-pack » (article 9 of regulation EU No 472/2013 of 21 May 2013 on the strengthening of economic and budgetary surveillance of Member States in the euro area experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability);

Amendment 57 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas aggressive tax planning in not per se illegal; whereas a clear and sound definition of what constitutes aggressive tax planning is missing; whereas it is difficult, when analysing the tax-minimising schemes designed by multinational firms, to distinguish what is legal but brings negative social consequences from what is genuinely illegal;

Amendment 58 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas aggressive tax planning is indivisible from an aggressive social planning, as confirmed by the work of the TAXE 2 committee, in particular the hearing of MNEs where it has been clearly demonstrated that tax schemes of firms like McDonald's are used as well as a channel to diminish employees pay;

Amendment 59 #

Miguel VIEGAS, Rina Ronja KARI, Fabio DE MASI, Marisa MATIAS, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO

Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas tax policy in the field of direct taxation falls within the competence of the Member States, which may decide to partially harmonise tax rules at EU level where they consider this to have an impact on the functioning of the internal market;

Amendment 6 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Citation 19

– having regard to the agreement signed between the EU and the Principality of Andorra on 12 February 2016 ~~aiming at improving tax compliance by private savers~~,

Amendment 60 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas these scandals highlight the failure of the current economic system, but also its usury and greed, and show the urgency of putting in practice fair tax regimes and ending tax havens, but above all the need to revolutionize the economic system;

Amendment 61 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)

Eb. whereas the goal is to ensure that the measures introduced are as effective as possible, but also for the Member States to be left an appropriate degree of flexibility in implementing the adopted solutions in accordance with the principle of proportionality;

Amendment 62 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)

Eb. whereas the best tool to combat aggressive tax planning is well-designed legislation, implemented in a proper and coordinated way;

Amendment 63 #

Hugues BAYET, Evelyn REGNER, Sergio Gaetano COFFERATI

Motion for a resolution
Recital E c (new)

Ec. whereas dispute resolution systems for double taxation have displayed important shortcomings, with a rise in the number of cases brought, a decline in the number of cases completed, and a lengthening of the procedures; whereas the OECD has decided to tackle this issue under Action 14 of its BEPS Action Plan; whereas concerns are raised that Country-by-Country reporting, by showing more clearly where the tax base is located, might lead to more conflicts between States claiming a share of such tax base, thereby making good dispute resolution regimes even more necessary;

Amendment 64 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2

Role of ~~specific~~external tax jurisdictions

Amendment 65 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital - F (new)

-F. whereas the Parliament held meetings with representatives of the Governments of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Guernsey and Jersey; whereas the Cayman Islands have only appeared at a coordinators' meeting and not at a formal hearing of the Special Committee; whereas the Isle of Man declined to appear before the Special Committee but sent a written contribution instead;

Amendment 66 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions inside and outside of the EU actively contribute to designing aggressive tax policies on behalf of MNEs who thereby avoid taxation; whereas the effective corporate tax rate in some jurisdictions inside and outside of the EU is close or equal to zero per cent; whereas the complexity of different tax systems create a lack of transparency which is globally harmful;

Amendment 67 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas some ~~specific~~ tax jurisdictions actively contribute to designing aggressive tax policies ~~on behalf of~~for MNEs who thereby avoid taxation; whereas the corporate tax rate in some jurisdictions is close or equal to zero per cent; whereas the complexity of different tax systems create a lack of transparency which is globally harmfulcan use these opportunities to avoid taxation; whereas despite commitments by these jurisdictions to automatically exchange tax information with other countries, the statutory or effective corporate tax rate in some jurisdictions is close or equal to zero per cent; whereas some of these jurisdictions are included in blacklists of several Member States; whereas specific tax regimes of some jurisdictions have been assessed by the Code of Conduct Group on business taxation, leading to reforms in these countries;

Amendment 68 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions actively contribute to designing aggressive tax policies which help of tax advisory firms on behalf of MNEs who thereby avoid taxation; whereas the corporate tax rate in some jurisdictions is close or equal to zero per cent; or it can be negative e.g. due to artificial deductions allowed by the loopholes in tax laws; whereas the complexity of different tax systems create a lack of transparency which is globally harmful;

Amendment 69 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions actively contribute to designing aggressive tax policies on behalf of MNEs who thereby avoid taxation; whereas the corporate tax rate in some jurisdictions is close or equal to zero per cent; whereas tax should be levied in the place where profits are generated and value is added; whereas the complexity of different tax systems creates a lack of transparency which is globally harmful;

Amendment 7 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Citation 24

– having regard to the Guernsey-UK Double Taxation Arrangement as amended by the 2009 Arrangement, signed 20 January 20109 and in force as from 27 November 2009, relating to exchange of information,

Amendment 70 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions actively contribute to designing aggressive tax policies on behalf of MNEs who thereby avoid taxation; whereas the corporate tax rate in some jurisdictions is close or equal to zero per cent; whereas the complexity of different tax systems create a lack of transparency which is globally harmful; whereas also on the national level corporate tax systems often suffer from a lack of transparency;

Amendment 71 #

Fabio DE MASI, Rina Ronja KARI, Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Miguel VIEGAS, Marisa MATIAS

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions, inside and outside the European Union, actively contribute to designing aggressive tax policies on behalf of MNEs who thereby avoid taxation; whereas the corporate tax rate in some jurisdictions is close or equal to zero per cent; whereas the complexity of different tax systems create a lack of transparency which is globally harmful;

Amendment 72 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions actively contribute to designing aggressive tax policies on behalf of MNEs who thereby avoid taxation; whereas the statutory and/or effective corporate tax rate in some jurisdictions is close or equal to zero per cent; whereas the complexity of different tax systems create a lack of transparency which is globally harmful;

Amendment 73 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions actively contribute to designing aggressive tax policies ~~on behalf of MNEs who thereby~~ which favoidur tax~~ation~~ avoidance; whereas the corporate tax rate in some jurisdictions is close or equal to zero per cent; whereas the complexity of different tax systems create a lack of transparency ~~which is~~, as well as mismatches which are globally harmful;

Amendment 74 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)

Fa. whereas these jurisdictions have all committed to automatic information exchange by 2017, except Andorra and Monaco in 2018; whereas it is important to monitor whether effective legislative changes are already being introduced to ensure effective automatic information exchange as of 2017;

Amendment 75 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital G

G. whereas the lack of transparency and, more generally, non-compliance with control requirements, deficient knowledge of final beneficiaries and continued banking secrecy are obstacles to ending tax evasion and avoidance; whereas the opacity of such practices is used by some tax agents in the financial sector for aggressive tax practices; whereas there is no automatic exchange of information between countries, beyond the pre-existing bilateral tax conventions; whereas political interference and staff cuts, in addition to lack of adequate training, technical tools and investigative powers have seriously hampered tax administrations in some Member States to counter the depletion of tax revenues and address harmful tax practices; whereas, without effective enforcement, the weaknesses of the systems will encourage tax evasion and avoidance;

Amendment 76 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital G

G. whereas the lack of transparency and, more generally, non-compliance with control requirements, deficient knowledge of final beneficiaries and continued banking secrecy are obstacles to ending tax evasion and avoidance; whereas the opacity of such practices is used by some tax agents in the financial sector for aggressive tax practices; whereas there is no automatic exchange of information between countries, beyond the pre-existing bilateral tax conventions; whereas, without effective enforcement, the weaknesses of the systems will encourage tax evasion and avoidance; whereas bank secrecy has been lifted for the purpose of automatic exchange of information, and opacity and optimization rely now in trade and commercial secrets, given that profit shifting takes no longer shelter in bank accounts but in business accounts

Amendment 77 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital G

G. whereas the l~~ack of transparency~~oopholes in legislation, the ineffectiveness in the exchange of information and, more generally, non-compliance with control requirements, deficient knowledge of final beneficiaries and continued banking secrecy are obstacles to ending tax evasion and ~~avoidance~~tax fraud; whereas the opacity of such practices is used by some tax agents in the financial sector for aggressive tax practices; whereas there is no automatic exchange of information between countries, beyond the pre-existing bilateral tax conventions; whereas, without effective enforcement, the weaknesses of the systems will encourage tax evasion and ~~avoidance~~fraud;

Amendment 78 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital G

G. whereas the lack of transparency and, more generally, non-compliance with control requirements, deficient knowledge of final beneficiaries and continued banking and corporate secrecy are obstacles to ending tax evasion and avoidance; whereas the opacity of such practices is used by some tax agents in the financial sector for aggressive tax practices; whereas there is no automatic exchange of information between countries, beyond the pre-existing bilateral tax conventions; whereas, the ongoing efforts to build automatic exchange of information are not watertight; whereas, without effective enforcement, the weaknesses of the systems will encourage tax evasion and avoidance;

Amendment 79 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital G

G. whereas the lack of transparency and, more generally, non-compliance with control requirements, deficient knowledge of final beneficiaries and continued banking secrecy are obstacles to ending tax evasion and avoidance; whereas the opacity of such practices is used by some tax agents in the financial sector for aggressive tax practices; whereas there ~~is no~~ automatic exchange of information between countries, beyond the pre-existing bilateral tax conventions has only recently been introduced; whereas, without effective enforcement, the weaknesses of the systems will encourage tax evasion and avoidance;

Amendment 8 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Citation 25

– having regard to the ~~amend~~Parliament's ~~adopted by Parliament~~legislative position on 8 July 2015 to the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2007/36/EC as regards the encouragement of long-term shareholder engagement and Directive 2013/34/EU as regards certain elements of the corporate governance statement,

Amendment 80 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital G

G. whereas the lack of transparency ~~and, more generally~~, non-compliance with control requirements, and deficient knowledge of final beneficiaries ~~and continued banking secrecy~~ are obstacles to ending tax evasion and avoidance; whereas the opacity of such practices is used by some tax agents in the financial sector for aggressive tax practices; whereas there is no automatic exchange of information between countries, beyond the pre-existing bilateral tax conventions; whereas, without effective enforcement, the weaknesses of the systems will encourage tax evasion and avoidance;

Amendment 81 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital G

G. whereas the lack of transparency and, more generally, non-compliance with control requirements, ~~deficient knowledge~~lack of information ofn final beneficiaries and continued banking secrecy are obstacles to ending tax evasion and avoidance; whereas the opacity of such practices is used by some tax agents in the financial sector for aggressive tax practices; whereas there is no automatic exchange of information between countries, beyond the pre-existing bilateral tax conventions; whereas, without effective enforcement, the weaknesses of the systems will encourage tax evasion and avoidance;

Amendment 82 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)

Ga. whereas bank secrecy laws are being gradually lifted;

Amendment 83 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital H

H. whereas ~~some specific tax jurisdictions are not willing to reform their tax systems, despite the ongoing global initiatives and despite the fact that some of them are involved in the work of the OECD;~~ the "Panama Papers" clearly had an effect on some specific tax jurisdictions which were so far reluctant to commit to the OECD Common Reporting Standards for automatic information exchange and announced in May 2016 that they will commit to it; whereas the United States is therefore the only major economy not having committed yet to implement the OECD Common Reporting Standards and only applying its national legislation (FATCA);

Amendment 84 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital H

H. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions even in the heart of Europe, such as Jersey, Guernsey, and within EFTA like Liechtenstein are not willing to reform their tax systems, despite the ongoing global initiatives and despite the fact that some of them are involved in the work of the OECD;

Amendment 85 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital H

H. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions are ~~not willing~~slow to reform their tax systems, despite the ongoing global initiatives and despite the fact that some of them are involved in the work of the OECD;

Amendment 86 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital I

I. whereas the hearings organised with Andorra, Guernsey, Jersey, Liechtenstein and Monaco (see Annex 1) showed that the conditions for registration of offshore companies and the information to be provided in this regard vary from one jurisdiction to another; whereas full information on the final beneficiaries of trusts, foundations and companies by official tax authorities of some of these jurisdictions is not known to exist or is never made public; whereas Directive 2015/849 of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing still leaves a wide margin of discretion to Member States on the level of transparency and accessibility of beneficial owners of corporate entities; whereas Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland have signed agreements with the EU; whereas the Channel Islands have signed agreements with the UK and have declared their readiness to enter into similar agreements with other Member States; whereas the Cayman Islands have only appeared at a coordinators’' meeting and not at a formal hearing of the Special Committee; whereas the Isle of Man declined to appear before the Special Committee but sent a written contribution instead;

Amendment 87 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital I

I. whereas the hearings organised with Andorra, Guernsey, Jersey, Liechtenstein and Monaco (see Annex 1) showed that the conditions for registration of offshore companies and the information to be provided in this regard vary from one jurisdiction to another; whereas full information on the final beneficiaries of trusts, foundations and companies by official tax authorities of some of these jurisdictions is not known ~~to exist~~ or collected nor is ~~never~~it made publicly available; whereas Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland have signed agreements for exchange of information with the EU; whereas the Channel Islands have signed agreements with the UK and have declared their readiness to enter into similar agreements with other Member States; whereas the Cayman Islands have only appeared at a coordinators’ meeting and not at a formal hearing of the Special Committee; whereas the Isle of Man declined to appear before the Special Committee but sent a written contribution instead;

Amendment 88 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital J

J. whereas the existing legislation of some jurisdictions does not ensure good governance or respect of international standards as regards final beneficiaries and transparency; whereas in some tax jurisdictions the tax authorities do not have sufficient financial and staff resources to administer taxation effectively;

Amendment 89 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital J

J. whereas the existing legislation of some jurisdictions does not ensure good governance or respect of the highest international standards as regards final beneficiaries ~~and~~, transparency and cooperation;

Amendment 9 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Citation 29

– having regard to the various parliamentary hearings and consecutive reports on tax avoidance and tax evasion held in national parliaments and in particular in the UK House of Commons, the US Senate ~~and the French Assemblée Natio~~, the Australian Senate and the French National Assembly and Senalte,

Amendment 90 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)

Ja. whereas some of these jurisdictions are dependent or associate territories of Members States and therefore, even if self-governing, are partially subject to national and European laws; whereas Member States should therefore consider legislating to ensure that their associate and dependent territories comply with highest standards;

Amendment 91 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital K

K. whereas some Member States have prepared their own lists of uncooperative jurisdictions; whereas there are big differences between these lists as to how uncooperative jurisdictions or tax havens are defined or assessed and whereas there are doubts as to the possibility to establish an independent and impartial process to draw up such lists; whereas the OECD’s list of uncooperative jurisdictions hadoes no~~t proved effectiv~~ longer serve its purpose; whereas a common Union-wide definition and list of uncooperative jurisdictions isare still lacking; whereas the most effective solution appears to be a gradual approach whereby a constructive dialogue with the jurisdiction is started in order to improve its tax governance and its compliance with international standards before the country is added to a blacklist;

Amendment 92 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital K

K. whereas some Member States have prepared their own lists of uncooperative jurisdictions; whereas there are big differences between these lists as to how uncooperative jurisdictions or tax havens are defined or assessed; whereas the OECD’s list of uncooperative jurisdictions has not proved effective; whereas a common Union-wide list of uncooperative jurisdictions is still lacking; whereas in the taxation package of 17 June 2015 the Commission published a list of uncooperative tax jurisdictions, established following a ‘common denominator’ approach on the basis of lists existing at national level;

Amendment 93 #

Philippe LAMBERTS, Eva JOLY, Sven GIEGOLD, Ernest URTASUN, Molly SCOTT CATO, Ernest MARAGALL

Motion for a resolution
Recital K

K. whereas some Member States have ~~prepared~~ their own lists of uncooperative jurisdictions and/or substantive definitions of "tax havens" or "privileged tax jurisdiction"; whereas there are bsignificant differences between these lists as to how uncooperative jurisdictions or tax havens are defined or assessed; whereas the OECD’'s list of uncooperative jurisdictions has not proved effective; whereas ~~a common Union-wide list of uncooperative jurisdictions is still lacking;~~ the Commission announced the creation of a common European list of tax havens accompanied with counter-measures and this proposal has received unanimous political support by the member States in April 2016;

Amendment 94 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital K

K. whereas some Member States have prepared their own lists of uncooperative jurisdictions; whereas there are big differences between these lists as to how uncooperative jurisdictions or tax havens are defined or assessed; whereas the OECD’s list of uncooperative jurisdictions has not proved effective; whereas a common Union-wide list of uncooperative jurisdictions is still lacking; whereas none of these lists contain clear, measurable and exhaustive criteria on how secretive particular jurisdictions are;

Amendment 95 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital K

K. whereas some Member States have prepared their own lists of uncooperative jurisdictions; whereas there are big differences between these lists as to how uncooperative jurisdictions or tax havens are defined or assessed; whereas the OECD’s list of uncooperative jurisdictions has not proved effective; whereas a common Union-wide list of uncooperative jurisdictions - based on comprehensive, transparent, robust, objectively verifiable and commonly accepted criteria - is still lacking;

Amendment 96 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital K

K. whereas some Member States have prepared their own lists of uncooperative jurisdictions; whereas there are big differences between these lists as to how uncooperative jurisdictions or tax havens are defined or assessed; whereas the OECD’s list of uncooperative jurisdictions has not proved effective; whereas a common Union-wide list of uncooperative jurisdictions is still lacking; whereas such a common EU-wide list is urgently needed;

Amendment 97 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital K

K. whereas some Member States have prepared their own lists of uncooperative jurisdictions; whereas there are big differences between these lists as to how uncooperative jurisdictions or tax havens are defined or assessed; whereas the OECD~~’s list of uncooperative jurisdictions has not proved effective; whereas a common Union-wide~~ already has a list of uncooperative jurisdictions ~~is still lacking~~;

Amendment 98 #

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 3

Role of ~~financial institution~~tax advisers, banks, law and accountancy firms and other intermediaries in aggressive tax planning by multinational enterprises (MNEs)

Amendment 99 #