The European Commission has enlarged the enquiry into the tax ruling practice under EU state aid rules to cover all member states. The Commission will ask member states to provide information about their tax ruling practice, in particular to confirm whether they provide tax rulings, and, if they do, to request a list of all companies that have received a tax ruling from 2010 to 2013. The Commission already requested similar information on tax rulings from several member states in June 2013.
This enquiry is said to be fully in line with the recent calls for more transparency of tax rulings, in particular the initiative announced by President Juncker on the upcoming legal proposal regarding the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings, on which work is being led by Commissioner Moscovici.
Commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager said: ‘We need a full picture of the tax rulings practices in the EU to identify if and where competition in the single market is being distorted through selective tax advantages. We will use the information received, as well as the knowledge gained from our ongoing investigations, to combat tax avoidance and fight for fair tax competition.’
Luxembourg
In light of this development, and in view of the upcoming European directive on the mandatory automatic exchange of information on tax rulings, Luxembourg has decided to provide the Commission with the list of the tax rulings issued by the Luxembourg tax administration, as well as with the list of the beneficiaries of the IP box regime, as previously requested. This decision implies that Luxembourg will withdraw its relating legal actions for annulment of the Commission’s injunction decisions, currently pending before the European Courts. In addition, Luxembourg has also introduced a legal framework for tax rulings and updates transfer pricing rules.
Separately, it has been reported that the source of the ‘Lux leaks’, an ex-PwC employee, has been Luxembourg arrested and charged with theft and violation of trade secrets.
The European Commission has enlarged the enquiry into the tax ruling practice under EU state aid rules to cover all member states. The Commission will ask member states to provide information about their tax ruling practice, in particular to confirm whether they provide tax rulings, and, if they do, to request a list of all companies that have received a tax ruling from 2010 to 2013. The Commission already requested similar information on tax rulings from several member states in June 2013.
This enquiry is said to be fully in line with the recent calls for more transparency of tax rulings, in particular the initiative announced by President Juncker on the upcoming legal proposal regarding the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings, on which work is being led by Commissioner Moscovici.
Commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager said: ‘We need a full picture of the tax rulings practices in the EU to identify if and where competition in the single market is being distorted through selective tax advantages. We will use the information received, as well as the knowledge gained from our ongoing investigations, to combat tax avoidance and fight for fair tax competition.’
Luxembourg
In light of this development, and in view of the upcoming European directive on the mandatory automatic exchange of information on tax rulings, Luxembourg has decided to provide the Commission with the list of the tax rulings issued by the Luxembourg tax administration, as well as with the list of the beneficiaries of the IP box regime, as previously requested. This decision implies that Luxembourg will withdraw its relating legal actions for annulment of the Commission’s injunction decisions, currently pending before the European Courts. In addition, Luxembourg has also introduced a legal framework for tax rulings and updates transfer pricing rules.
Separately, it has been reported that the source of the ‘Lux leaks’, an ex-PwC employee, has been Luxembourg arrested and charged with theft and violation of trade secrets.
