World news
New EU rules on reporting aggressive tax planning
In late June, the European Commission released a draft of new rules imposing the duty to inform tax administrators of tax planning schemes. It is yet another EU initiative to tackle tax avoidance and evasion.
CJEU opens way to recovering twice paid VAT from state
The incorrect application of a VAT regime may have far-reaching consequences for taxpayers even if the state budget does not actually lose out. If the tax administration finds that the reverse charge regime has not been applied even though…
Independent groups of persons under CJEU scrutiny
Four cases dealing with VAT exemptions for independent groups of persons are currently before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) waiting for a ruling. The CJEU’s conclusions in these individual cases may strongly affect the conditions…
EC presents additional tools to fight aggressive tax planning
The launch of an application to report illegal business practices and the establishment of a special unit of the European Commission – these measures are intended to help the EU tackle aggressive tax planning. Information gained through these tools…
CJEU on hijabs in the work place
In March, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) dealt with the controversial topic of wearing Muslim headscarves – hijabs – in the work place. It held that employers may ban employees from wearing visible religious symbols at work. The verdict,…
CJEU: in mergers, the burden of proof lies with tax administrators
In early March, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) dealt with an interesting question in the Société Euro Park Service (C-14/16) case. The case involved a dispute whether a tax administrator’s prior approval was necessary to defer the taxation of…
OECD makes blanket change to double tax treaties
In November 2016, OECD released a multilateral convention that will affect the application of double tax treaties. The instrument implements the outcomes of the BEPS Action Plan into more than 2 000 tax treaties. A signing ceremony has been planned…
New international treaties to alter withholding tax amounts
In 2016, the Czech Republic entered into two new double-taxation treaties and several agreements on the exchange of tax information and cooperation in tax matters. As a result, the amount of withholding tax on payments made to persons in the…
ECOFIN postpones extension of ATAD
At their December session, the EU finance ministers (ECOFIN) negotiated the anti-tax avoidance directive, ATAD2. Some issues remain open, such as the financial sector’s exception from the rules and the member states’ date of transposition of the new…
OECD releases a multilateral instrument to modify double taxation treaties
Late in November, more than 100 states concluded negotiations on the wording of a new multilateral convention, which is an important part of the OECD’s action plan against base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). This multilateral instrument will…
European Commission to overhaul corporate taxation
In late October, the European Commission released its proposal for major corporate tax reform. The package contains three areas: the common (consolidated) corporate tax base (CC(C)TB), mechanisms to resolve double taxation disputes, and measures to…
Ireland to appeal against the EC’s Apple ruling
In September, the European Commission ruled that Ireland had granted an undue tax advantage of EUR 13 billion to Apple, which it now has to recover from the company. In early October, the Irish finance minister prepared an appeal against the EC’s…