The Netherlands Presidency 2016 Pieter Hasekamp Director-General - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Netherlands Presidency 2016

Pieter Hasekamp Director-General Tax Policies Ministry of Finance

Agenda

• Presidency EU Council
• The Dutch approach
• Tax matters to be discussed
• Conclusions

Presidency EU Council

4

Overview EU institutions

Presidency EU Council

Juncker European Parliament NL (1st half 2016) Schulz

• Right of

initiative (legislator)

• Guardian

EU law

• Discusses

legislation EU Commission

• Agreement

after vote

• Codecision
• No codecision

in tax matters

• TAXE

Committee EU Commission EU Council Ecofin Council

5

Presidency role

 Chair Council of Ministers

 Agenda  Compromise proposal

Limited influence

 No right of initiative  European Council (European Summit)  Rule of unanimity

Presidency EU Council

The Dutch approach

7

The Dutch approach

 Sober  Facilitating the process  Neutral approach (“honest broker”)  Pragmatic  Good logistics and early sending of Room Docs

The Dutch approach

Tax matters

9

Direct taxation

Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD)

 28 January 2016: publication by EU Commission  Minimum harmonisation: MS can be stricter  Several anti-abuse measures:

• Limitation of interest deduction
• Approach hybrid mismatches
• General Anti-Abuse Rule
• Switch-over rule, CFC rule
• Exit taxation

 Goal: partial agreement or policy debate

Tax matters

10

Direct taxation

Interest & Royalties Directive

 Minimum effective taxation  Divided opinions:

Protection withholding tax versus Sovereignty on tax rate (no harmonisation)

 Goal: political agreement or orientation debate  Link with action towards low taxed jurisdictions

Tax matters

11

Direct taxation

Country by country reporting

 Implementation OECD CbCR  Same rules for all EU countries  Automatic exchange through existing network  Goal: agreement  Public CbCR: March 2016, Impact assessment

Commission for CbCR (all companies)

Tax matters

12

Direct taxation

EU and OECD: same, but different

 Interest & Royalties Directive

Minimum effective taxation  relation with nexus approach

 Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive:

Both OECD and EU: Limitation of interest deduction, CFC rules, hybrids EU only: switch-over, exit taxation, GAAR

 Goal: coherent EU approach against tax abuse

Tax matters

13

Direct taxation

Soft law

 Strategy with regard to third countries (Black listing)  Recommendation on the implementation BEPS output on

treaty abuse and permanent establishments

 Reform of the Code of Conduct group

 Mandate  Governance

 Ongoing work of the Code Group:

 Patent boxes  Hybrid mismatches  Assessment of potential harmful regimes

Tax matters

14

Indirect taxes

VAT Fraud

 High priority, 150 billion euros a year EU wide  Reverse Charge mechanism will be discussed  March VAT Action Plan: will discuss various anti-

fraud measures

 April Informal Ecofin Council: VAT Fraud  June Ecofin Council: Dutch Presidency will strive

for Council conclusions on the way forward (both short-term and long-term measures)

Tax matters

15

Indirect taxes

VAT rates

 Several discussions on the structure of VAT rates

in the EU are pending: minimum rate; limited list

• f reduced rates; VAT in the digital economy.

 March VAT Action Plan: Commission will discuss

several solutions on the structure of VAT rates.

 June Ecofin Council: Dutch Presidency will strive

for Council Conclusions on the way forward.

Tax matters

16

Indirect taxes

Vouchers and VAT

 Commission Proposal on the VAT treatment of

vouchers

 VAT treatment of all types of vouchers (such as

prepaid phone cards, dinner vouchers, etc.). In particular, cross boarder situations are unclear

 After four years of negotiations, the Council

Working Party is on a crossroad

 Dutch Presidency in the process of bilateral talks

with some Member States on an effective way forward, with the ambition to get a political agreement

Tax matters

17

Overview important dates tax matters

January: ATAD March: VAT Action Plan April: Informal Ecofin Council: VAT fraud June: Last Ecofin, possibly Council Conclusions on

various Tax Files

Tax matters

Conclusions

19

Conclusions

 Ambitious  Focus on implementing BEPS Action Plan  Putting VAT Fraud back on the agenda

Conclusions