The European Commission will draw up new proposals to crack down on intermediaries who facilitate tax evasion says Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.
Speaking at a regular hearing with the Economics Committee, the Commissioner responsible for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs briefed MEPs on the aims behind the proposed crackdown, and gave details of the planned EU blacklist of tax havens to be published later this year, as well as recent exchanges with members of the new US administration.
Commissioner Moscovici said the measures against all intermediaries and all harmful practices would be tough and wide-ranging. He expected to make them public in June. The rules would include all intermediaries, cover all harmful practices, and all jurisdictions, he said. "These are the three major pillars upon which we are basing our proposal." Commissioner Moscovici said the Commission would prefer a "hard law", rather than a "soft law", such as a code of conduct, but "we don't think that there'll be criminal sanctions involved."
On the prospective list of tax havens Mr Moscovici said the list would be presented to ECOFIN in June, with its likely adoption by the end of September.
On the role of dependent territories in tax evasion Mr Moscovici replied that by focusing on country-by-country reporting and also making the subsequent information public "I am convinced that we will enhance transparency."
0