The proposed Council Directive marks another, significant, though likely problematic, step towards tackling tax avoidance across Member States.

Background -

The European Commission (the Commission) has been moving towards adopting tax measures that would protect the functioning of the internal market, since the European Council Conclusions in December 2014. The Commission’s latest proposal for a Council Directive (the Proposal), published 28 January 2016, comes only a few months after the OECD published recommendations in the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Final Reports (5 October 2015). The Proposal confirms the European authorities’ commitment to continue fighting tax avoidance and to ensure that Member States’ efforts in this area are properly coordinated.