The new rules will soon oblige big multinationals to publically declare what taxes they pay in each EU country.
On Monday, the Committees on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Legal Affairs endorsed the provisional agreement reached on 1 June between European Parliament and Council negotiators on with 69 votes in favour, 3 votes against and 2 abstentions. The agreed bill will require multinationals and their subsidiaries with annual revenues of over EUR 750 million, and which are active in more than one country, to publish and make accessible the amount of taxes they pay in each member state. Reporting will also extend to each third country on EU’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (so called EU “black” and “grey” lists). Such information will need to be made available on the internet, using a common template and in machine-readable format.
Rapporteur Evelyn Regner (S&D, AT) said: “According to a study by G. Zucman et al., approximately 80% of profits generated in the European Union that are shifted out of it, are finding their way back to the European Union, specifically to EU tax havens. This is where our deal on public country-by-country reporting kicks in. Indeed, our deal is a valuable stage victory for more corporate tax transparency in Europe.” Rapporteur Iban García del Blanco (S&D, ES) said: “After five long years of blockade of this dossier by a certain number of member states, with today’s vote we are getting one step closer to approving the agreement reached with the Council. I am proud that, with the pCBCR Directive, Europe is setting the trends by adopting a first-of-its-kind law globally that will make currently undisclosed information publicly available. By obliging big multinationals to disclose where they pay taxes in Europe and in the tax havens, we will shed an important light on dodgy dealings. Knowing that about 80% of the profits shifted in the EU are shifted to EU tax havens, we will bring our own house in order. We will not stop there. In the upcoming review, we will work hard towards extending the obligation to disclose information in every country of the world on disaggregated basis, which is a long-standing priority of the Parliament”.
Following a standard legal linguistic check, the Council shall adopt its position at first reading. The European Parliament as whole is expected to approve the Council position after the summer recess, after which the directive will be deemed adopted and published in the Official Journal. Member states will then have 18 months to transpose it into national law. Four years after its transposition, the Commission shall review its impact and assess a possible extension of the rules to all non-EU countries.
