The European Parliament has made a number of amendments to strengthen the Commission’s proposals for giving tax authorities access to national anti-money laundering data.
In July, in the wake of the ‘Panama papers’ revelations, the Commission proposed a set of amendments to the administrative cooperation directive, to give tax authorities access to national anti-money laundering data, particularly information on beneficial ownership and due diligence, in the context of combating tax avoidance and evasion through the automatic exchange of information. European finance ministers agreed this proposal in the Council in November, with the changes due to take effect from 1 January 2018.
The amendments and additions put forward by the Parliament include:
a call for political and diplomatic action aimed at eliminating offshore centres at global level;
a call for the EU to use its powers to ‘take action through an ad hoc proposal on increased control and transparency for banking and financial transactions, and potential penalties such as licence withdrawal in the event of repeated non-compliance or fraud’;
anti-money laundering information ‘should be included, where relevant, in the automatic exchange between member states and should be made available on request to the Commission in the framework of its power to enforce state aid rules’;
in addition to taxes, the directive should apply to ‘virtual currency exchange services and custodial wallet providers’;
a new article requiring tax authorities of a member state to automatically exchange information within three months if the beneficial owner of a firm, or settlor of a trust, is a taxpayer in that state; and
a requirement that where a member state fails to investigate exchanged data ‘in a timeframe required by national law, it should publicly communicate the reasons for this failure to the Commission’.
The Council will now need to approve the amendments made by the Parliament. See here.
The European Parliament has made a number of amendments to strengthen the Commission’s proposals for giving tax authorities access to national anti-money laundering data.
In July, in the wake of the ‘Panama papers’ revelations, the Commission proposed a set of amendments to the administrative cooperation directive, to give tax authorities access to national anti-money laundering data, particularly information on beneficial ownership and due diligence, in the context of combating tax avoidance and evasion through the automatic exchange of information. European finance ministers agreed this proposal in the Council in November, with the changes due to take effect from 1 January 2018.
The amendments and additions put forward by the Parliament include:
a call for political and diplomatic action aimed at eliminating offshore centres at global level;
a call for the EU to use its powers to ‘take action through an ad hoc proposal on increased control and transparency for banking and financial transactions, and potential penalties such as licence withdrawal in the event of repeated non-compliance or fraud’;
anti-money laundering information ‘should be included, where relevant, in the automatic exchange between member states and should be made available on request to the Commission in the framework of its power to enforce state aid rules’;
in addition to taxes, the directive should apply to ‘virtual currency exchange services and custodial wallet providers’;
a new article requiring tax authorities of a member state to automatically exchange information within three months if the beneficial owner of a firm, or settlor of a trust, is a taxpayer in that state; and
a requirement that where a member state fails to investigate exchanged data ‘in a timeframe required by national law, it should publicly communicate the reasons for this failure to the Commission’.
The Council will now need to approve the amendments made by the Parliament. See here.
