EU Agrees on New Rules to Tackle Corporate Tax Avoidance

The European Commission has welcomed Tuesday's agreement by Member States on their general approach for far-reaching new rules to eliminate the most common corporate practices of tax avoidance.

The legally-binding rules proposed by the Commission in January were agreed swiftly to spur global efforts to clamp down on aggressive tax planning.

The measures were“particularly timely given the recent Panama Papers revelations”, the EU executive said in a statement.

“While some of the measures have been changed owing to issues around implementation in some Member States, the Commission remains convinced that fast agreement on this Directive was imperative if we want quick action to be taken. Since the Parliament has already issued its opinion, the new rules will now soon be formally adopted by the Council,” the Commission said.

Once implemented, the new legislation will put an end to the most common loopholes and aggressive tax planning schemes currently used by some large multinational companies to avoid paying their fair share of tax.

In particular, the new rules will empower all Member States to tax profits being moved to low-tax countries where the company does not have any genuine economic activity.

Previously untaxed gains on assets such as intellectual property, which have been moved from the EU's territory, can also be taxed under the new rules.

The EU Member States have also been empowered to tackle tax avoidance schemes that are not covered by specific anti-avoidance rules, according to the statement.