Procedure completed
2016/2038(INI) Tax rulings and other measures similar in nature or effect
Lead committee dossier: TAX2/8/05986
Legal Basis RoP 197
| Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | TAX2 Special committee on tax rulings | KOFOD Jeppe (S&D), THEURER Michael (ALDE) |
Legal Basis RoP 197
Subjects
Activites
- 2016/07/06 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
- 2016/07/05 Debate in Parliament
- 2016/06/29 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
-
2016/06/21
Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
-
2015/12/02
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
Documents
- Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A8-0223/2016
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0310/2016
| Amendments | Dossier |
| 548 |
2016/2038(INI)
2016/06/02
TAX2
541 amendments...
Amendment 1 #
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 #
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
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution Recital L L. whereas some
Amendment 103 #
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
Amendment 104 #
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 #
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 #
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
Amendment 108 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Subheading 1 Overall considerations
Amendment 110 #
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 #
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
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N N. whereas
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
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
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 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q Q. whereas schemes linked to
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q Q. whereas
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 #
Motion for a resolution Recital R R. whereas
Amendment 121 #
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
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
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
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
Amendment 126 #
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 #
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
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 #
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 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Subheading 5 Documents from the Code of Conduct Group
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution Recital V V. whereas it was only five months after the beginning of the term of its Special Committee that
Amendment 134 #
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 #
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
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution Recital V a (new) 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 #
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
Amendment 139 #
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;
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 #
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 #
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
Amendment 142 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Y 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 #
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 #
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
Amendment 156 #
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
Amendment 157 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Recital AE AE. whereas the work of the Special Committee was hindered
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A A. whereas the ‘Panama Papers’ and ‘LuxLeaks’
Amendment 160 #
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 Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1. Reiterates the conclusions of its resolution of 25 November 2015
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 168 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A A. whereas the
Amendment 170 #
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 #
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;
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
Amendment 175 #
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
Amendment 176 #
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; calls in particular on the Council to adopt strong and mechanical Controlled Foreign Company Rules which would effectively discourage profit shifting;
Amendment 177 #
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;
Amendment 178 #
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, ambitious in scope and going beyond the minimum recommendations of the OECD where possible; welcomes the initiative to create a common Union list of uncooperative jurisdictions in the External Strategy for Effective Taxation;
Amendment 179 #
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
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
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2.
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 #
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
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 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
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Urges the Commission to come forward with a proposal for a common corporate consolidated tax base (CCCTB)
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
Amendment 190 #
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; reminds the Member States that different corporate tax rates can create an unlevelled playing field and unfair tax competition within the EU as well;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3.
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3.
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3.
Amendment 194 #
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; thus, needs to be addressed in one phase; calls on the Member States to promptly reach an agreement on this and to swiftly implement it;
Amendment 195 #
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;
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
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 4.
Amendment 199 #
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; calls, in this regard, to replace the OECD threshold with the EU's own existing definition of 'large undertakings' and for the publication of disaggregated data from all third countries, in order to tackle the setting up of tax avoidance schemes involving and harming developing countries;
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 9 – having regard to the ECOFIN conclusions on
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
Amendment 200 #
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 co
Amendment 201 #
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;
Amendment 202 #
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;
Amendment 203 #
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 and would therefore not deliver the objectives of those positions;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Welcomes the agreement in Council on 8 December 2015 on automatic exchange of information on tax 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
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5.
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
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;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5.
Amendment 213 #
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
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 #
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 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8.
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
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 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 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
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Welcomes the fact that the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager,
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
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution Recital B B. whereas the
Amendment 230 #
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
Amendment 231 #
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
Amendment 232 #
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 int
Amendment 233 #
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
Amendment 234 #
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
Amendment 238 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Strongly emphasises that the work
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
Amendment 240 #
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
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
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
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
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
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
Amendment 246 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11. Notes that the Commission has launched a public consultation on
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.
Amendment 249 #
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
Amendment 250 #
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 #
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 #
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 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 #
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;
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Notes th
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,
Amendment 260 #
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
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
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
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. Calls on the Commission to come up
Amendment 265 #
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
Amendment 266 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. Calls on the Commission to
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
Amendment 268 #
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
Amendment 269 #
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,
Amendment 27 #
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
Amendment 270 #
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, abnormally low taxation rates, and granting of tax advantages to non- residents, 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 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’),
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
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
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 #
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
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
Amendment 280 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14.
Amendment 281 #
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; points out, nevertheless, that individuals and firms must continue to enjoy the unrestricted right to be advised on or represented in tax matters;
Amendment 282 #
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 a comprehensive plan to deter asset transfers to non-EU countries that serve as anonymity protectors for corrupt individuals; 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 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
Amendment 285 #
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, diplomatic sanctions, and suspension of travel privileges; 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 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
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 #
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
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
Amendment 290 #
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
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
Amendment 292 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 15. Calls on the Member States to
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’;
Amendment 294 #
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’;
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
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 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16.
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16.
Amendment 304 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16. Recommends
Amendment 305 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16. Recommends
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16. Recommends introducing an
Amendment 307 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16. Recommends
Amendment 308 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16. Recommends introducing
Amendment 309 #
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
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 17 17. Notes that until now, patent, knowledge and R&D boxes have
Amendment 313 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 17 17. Notes that
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
Amendment 315 #
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
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,
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
Amendment 318 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 17 17. Notes that
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
Amendment 32 #
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 #
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.
Amendment 323 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 19 Amendment 324 #
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 #
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
Amendment 329 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 19 19. Calls on the Commission to put forward proposals for binding Union legislation on patent boxes
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 Amendment 331 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 20 Amendment 332 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 20 Amendment 333 #
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
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 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 21 21.
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 21 21. Observes that
Amendment 339 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 21 21.
Amendment 34 #
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
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 21 21. Observes that
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 22 22. Is concerned about the lack of transparency and adequate documentation
Amendment 344 #
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 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 and that there is a need for transparency on the ultimate beneficial ownership of firms where it comes to European firms and European residents;
Amendment 346 #
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; recommends, in order to tackle the problem of shell companies, to strengthen transparency requirements for setting up private companies;
Amendment 347 #
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’
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 23 23. Calls on the Commission to come forward with
Amendment 35 #
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 #
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
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 23 23.
Amendment 353 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 23 23.
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
Amendment 355 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 23 a (new) Amendment 356 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 24 24.
Amendment 357 #
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 effect; calls on the Commission, should separation of such services within the same firm prove to be inadequate, to bring forward a proposal for mandatory separation of such services into separate firms;
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
Amendment 359 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 24 24. Stresses the importance of clear
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution Recital B d (new) 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;
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
Amendment 362 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 24 24. Stresses the importance of clear separation between legal, tax advising
Amendment 363 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 24 24. Stresses again the importance of clear separation between tax advising services and auditing services within accountancy firms;
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.
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
Amendment 367 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 25 25.
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
Amendment 37 #
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 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
Amendment 373 #
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
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 #
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 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 27 c (new) Amendment 379 #
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
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
Amendment 382 #
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
Amendment 383 #
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
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’
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
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
Amendment 388 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 29 29. Observes that the Commission is
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
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, lead
Amendment 390 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 29 29.
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
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 31 31.
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
Amendment 399 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 32 32.
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 13 – having regard to the Commission
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
Amendment 401 #
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 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; reiterates its 2015 call on the Council to establish a political-level ‘tax committee’;
Amendment 403 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 33 33.
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
Amendment 406 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 33 33.
Amendment 407 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 33 33.
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 #
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 #
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
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 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 34 34.
Amendment 422 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 34 34.
Amendment 423 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 34 34.
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
Amendment 425 #
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 #
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 #
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 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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 35 Amendment 433 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 35 Amendment 434 #
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
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 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 36 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-
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
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas close to one third of
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
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 ha
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
Amendment 454 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 38 Amendment 455 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 38 Amendment 456 #
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 #
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
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 to
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
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
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
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 #
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 #
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 #
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 #
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 #
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
Amendment 479 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 41 41. Calls on the Commission to include in all trade and partnership agreements good governance clauses
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 41 41. Calls on the Commission to include
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
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 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 42 42. Calls on
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.
Amendment 486 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 42 42. Calls on the OECD to
Amendment 487 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 42 42. Calls on the OECD to
Amendment 488 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 43 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 #
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
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 #
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 #
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
Amendment 498 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 45 Amendment 499 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 45 Amendment 5 #
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 taxation1
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 MN
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
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 #
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;
Amendment 507 #
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;
Amendment 508 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 46 46.
Amendment 509 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 46 46. Stresses the need for a comprehensive
Amendment 51 #
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;
Amendment 511 #
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
Amendment 512 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 46 46. Stresses the need for a comprehensive
Amendment 513 #
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
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 #
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 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, which have major responsibility in this matter, and to increase their own commitment to the work of interparliamentary forums on tax matters;
Amendment 519 #
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 #
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
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.
Amendment 525 #
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
Amendment 526 #
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 t
Amendment 527 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 49 Amendment 528 #
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
Amendment 529 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 49 49. Notes that the Panama Papers scandal has documented systematic use of
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
Amendment 532 #
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 #
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
Amendment 539 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 52 52. Calls on
Amendment 54 #
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 #
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
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 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 19 – having regard to the agreement signed between the EU and the Principality of Andorra on 12 February 2016
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 #
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 65 #
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 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F F. whereas some
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 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 24 – having regard to the Guernsey-UK Double Taxation Arrangement as amended by the 2009 Arrangement, signed 20 January 20
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 #
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
Amendment 74 #
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
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution Recital G G. whereas the l
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
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 25 – having regard to the
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution Recital G G. whereas the lack of transparency
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution Recital G G. whereas the lack of transparency and, more generally, non-compliance with
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution Recital G a (new) Ga. whereas bank secrecy laws are being gradually lifted;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution Recital H H. whereas
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
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
Amendment 87 #
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
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution Recital J J. whereas the existing legislation of
Amendment 89 #
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
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 29 – having regard to the various
Amendment 90 #
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
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 #
Motion for a resolution Recital K K. whereas some Member States have
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
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
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution Subheading 3 Role of
Amendment 99 #
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;
source: 584.081
2016/06/14
TAX2
7 amendments...
Amendment 542 #
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 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 543 #
Motion for a resolution Recital H H. whereas some specific tax jurisdictions inside and outside of the EU 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 544 #
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; stresses the need for a minimum tax rate;
Amendment 545 #
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, unethical, immoral, improper 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 546 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 28 28. Reiterates the crucial role of whistleblowers in revealing misconduct
Amendment 547 #
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; deeply regrets that the Commission has not provided a satisfactory response to the
Amendment 548 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 30 30. Urges the Commission to propose
source: 584.248
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