EU members disagree over method to beat corporate tax avoidance

Weeks on since the Panama Papers revelation, conversations have continued in regards to how European governments can protect their tax revenues moving forward. EU ministers have put forward plans to aggressively tackle tax abuse following the Mossack Fonseca leak. They are proposing swift action which means large companies formally disclose the taxes they pay and profits made in different countries. Whilst this is seen by many as a step in the right direction to clamp down on tax avoidance, others have warned against the proposals. Germany’s finance minister believes there should be caution against “lining someone up to be pilloried publicly”. Here at International Tax Search, we believe the proposals are a good idea to combat tax avoidance, but will be difficult to implement in practice.

The article mentions:

EU member states are at odds over plans to fight aggressive corporate tax avoidance, highlighting the bloc’s difficulties in responding to public outrage over the Panama Papers tax revelations with swift action. 

EU ministers have promised to move fast to tackle tax abuse following the leak of more than 11m documents from Mossack Fonseca, a secretive law firm specialising in setting up offshore companies in tax havens. 

At a meeting of finance ministers at the weekend, Finland’s Alexander Stubb described the revelations as a “game-changer”, while Michel Sapin, his French colleague, said it had been “intolerable for our citizens to see all these facts coming out day after day”.

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