Report on overview and assessment of the statistics and information on the automatic exchanges in the field of direct taxation

Summary:

On 17 December 2018 the European Commission presented a report on automatic exchanges of information in the field of taxation.

Further information:

In an increasing globalized world, differences in taxation systems may have negative effects on tax revenue collection, as businesses are able to shift profits across borders and taxpayers can earn income from abroad without being taxed, when taxpayers are not compliant in all countries involved. This has led to the development of various cooperation mechanisms among tax authorities, referred as ‘administrative cooperation in direct taxation’.

Within the EU, Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of direct taxation is a key element in cooperation between Member States. It supports Member States by giving a new improved framework for commonly structured working methods and electronic tools since 2013. Three forms of information exchange are foreseen in the Directive, namely: (i) the exchange of information on request (EOIR); (ii) the spontaneous exchange of information (SEOI); and (iii) the automatic exchange of information (AEOI).

The AEOI is the subject of this report. It differs from the other forms of information exchange because of its mandatory nature and broader scope. The report has been drafted mainly on the basis of information gathered from Member States’ tax authorities via an annual survey and annually collected sets of statistical data. It covers the period from 2015 until mid-2018.

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