The EU's Council of Economic and Finance (ECOFIN) Ministers will take place in Luxembourg on 20 June at 10.00.
The Council is expected to reach political agreement on closing an important loophole in the Parent-Subsidiary Directive which has been used by some companies to escape taxation. In November 2013, the Commission proposed amendments to the Parent-Subsidiary Directive, which included preventing specific tax planning arrangements (hybrid loan arrangements) from benefiting from tax exemptions. With this amendment, companies will no longer be able to exploit differences in the way Member States tax intra-group profit distributions, in order to avoid paying any tax at all. The result will be that the Parent-Subsidiary Directive can continue to ensure a level-playing field for businesses in the Single Market, without opening opportunities for aggressive tax planning. This proposal was one of the actions announced by the Commission in its Action Plan to fight tax fraud and evasion.
The Council is expected to adopt conclusions on the report of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation. The Code of Conduct Group reports to the Council on progress achieved by the end of each Presidency.
The Council is due to adopt, without discussion, a progress report on the Energy Taxation Directive, which the European Commission proposed on 13 April 2011.
0