Algirdas Semeta, European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud, has urged member states not to water down proposals for a financial transactions tax (FTT), arguing that present delays may be instead overcome by a phased implementation of the tax.
A report from BUSINESSEUROPE reinforces the business community’s claims that double taxation outside of the area of transfer pricing remains a significant problem. At the October meeting of the European Commission’s Platform for Tax Good Governance, EU member states had claimed the issue was no longer relevant.
Some of Europe's biggest taxpayers are concerned about the increased risk of double taxation from Poland’s proposed changes to its controlled foreign corporation (CFC) rules and thin capitalisation regime.
Norbert Walter-Borjans, finance minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, has repeated his claim that Germany must act unilaterally to target multinational tax avoidance through BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting) if insufficient progress has been made through multilateral efforts by the time autumn arrives.