On 8 June 2016, the EU Commission’s proposal for an EU wide Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive was approved by the EU Parliament, with 486 votes for, 88 against and 103 abstaining.
Although the directive was welcomed, MEPs have recommend stricter rules in a number of areas. They suggested, inter alia, more stringent limits on tax deductibility of interest and a stricter switch-over clause; adoption of a common definition of patent box, tax havens, and permanent establishment; drawing up an exhaustive black list of tax havens and countries (including those in the EU) and a list of sanctions for non-cooperative jurisdiction and financial institutions operating within those jurisdictions.
The CCCTB has also been put back on the table together with a pitch for creating a harmonised-common EU Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) to be used as a basis for automatic exchange of information between EU tax authorities.
The text adopted can be found here.
It is now up to the Council either to accept or ignore the Parliament’s amendments, adopt the proposed Directive as it is or reject it.
