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<p>The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) has a
keen interest in tax, and hence put forward certain proposals. However, the Commission
has the sole power of initiative in relation to legislative measures. Tax files are
to be agreed by unanimity at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN).
The European Parliament’s role in this process in not formal, and purely consultative.</p><p>
</p><p>The term tax haven is often used as shorthand for low or zero tax jurisdictions.
However, low tax rates are not by themselves harmful and the UK supports fair tax
competition. The UK is working with other Member States in the EU Code of Conduct
Group to identify harmful tax regimes and will continue to take strong action against
aggressive avoidance and evasion.</p><p> </p><p>The UK and other Member States have
not yet seen any proposals from the European Commission or the European Parliament
on public country-by-country reporting (CbCR). The Commission is due to publish an
Impact Assessment on public CbCR shortly, and we are interested in the results of
their analysis. The UK will carefully consider any proposals put forward by the Commission.</p><p>
</p><p>The UK played a leading role in encouraging other countries and jurisdictions
to sign up to international tax transparency agreements during its G8 presidency in
2013. Thanks in large part to the UK's continuing leadership on this agenda, over
90 countries have now committed to exchange information on offshore accounts, beginning
in 2017 or 2018. The UK also initiated the international work on CbCR and was the
first country to formally commit to implementing the OECD model for CbCR, with legislation
in the Finance Act 2015. We support the proposal to amend the Directive on Administrative
Co-operation to require all EU Member States to adopt and exchange the OECD CbCR template.</p><p>
</p><p>The European Commission intends to publish a revised proposal for a mandatory
Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) later this year. The Government will
wait to see the detail of the Commission’s proposal, including a robust impact assessment,
before finalising its position. However, we have stated that the UK will not sign
up to anything that undermines our tax sovereignty.</p>
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