EU scraps bank secrecy to catch cross-border tax evaders

EUobserver.com reports that EU finance ministers on Tuesday (7 December) agreed to remove bank secrecy as a reason for blocking cross-border tax fraud investigations, in a bid to find fresh resources for cash-strapped state coffers.


"Tax evaders can no longer exploit bank secrecy as an excuse," EU taxation commissioner Algirdas Semeta said after the meeting.

Targeted is all "income from employment, directors' fees, dividends, capital gains, royalties, certain life insurance products, pensions, and ownership of and income from immovable property." The new rules will apply from 1 January next year, but they will not be retroactive.


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EU-wide tax databases suggested

In a bid to use the momentum of the economic crisis which has strained EU public budgets, the European Commission has proposed a potentially controversial system to boost fight against tax fraud by allowing national authorities to directly access taxpayer data in other countries.
"In the current economic situation it is more important than ever to fight tax fraud efficiently and a fully functioning administrative cooperation between tax administrations is key in that respect," the EU's taxation commissioner Laszlo Kovacs said in a statement on Tuesday (18 August).

Introducing the proposed structure, the Hungarian commissioner said he wanted to provide national tax officers with "all technical and legal means to take action" and protect other states' tax revenue "as effectively as their own."

The key element of the blueprint is the creation of "Eurofisc" - a scheme for rapid exchange of targeted information to which the authorities from all 27 EU member states would have direct access, in order to "stop fraud and catch fraudsters," Mr Kovacs said.

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