Europe plans action on corporate tax avoidance

Article reported that the European Commission was planning to push for a significant bolstering of Europe’s defences against aggressive corporate tax avoidance schemes, as the EU bid to clamp down on practices which cost its member states as much as $60bn per year.

According to draft documents seen by the Financial Times in November 2012, the European Commission was recommending that member states adopted a common, tougher definition of what constitutes a tax haven, and then scrap or suspend existing double taxation agreements with such countries, meaning that companies would no longer be able to use them to avoid taxes.

European Commission: DG Taxation and Customs Union: Taxation: Company Tax: Harmful tax competition http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/company_tax/harmful_tax_practices/index_en.htm

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