The Commission has welcomed today's unanimous agreement by Member States on the automatic exchange of information on cross-border tax rulings, just seven months after the presentation of the Commission's ambitious proposal on the subject.
The new rules should lead to greater cooperation between Member States on tax matters and act as a deterrent from using tax rulings as an instrument for tax abuse. All Member States will be equipped with the information they need to protect their tax bases and effectively target companies that try to escape paying their fair share of taxes. The agreement was reached at a meeting of Economic and Financial Affairs ministers in Luxembourg.
The automatic exchange of information on tax rulings will enable Member States to detect certain abusive tax practices by companies and take the necessary action in response. It is expected that this initiative will deter tax authorities from offering selective tax treatment to companies once this is open to scrutiny by their peers. This will result in much healthier tax competition.
In addition, the Commission will regularly receive the information it needs in order to monitor the implementation of this directive and ensure that Member States are complying with their responsibilities.
Member States will have to transpose the new rules into national law before the end of 2016, meaning that the Directive will come into effect on 1 January 2017.
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