30 Amendments of Ivars IJABS related to 2020/2254(INL)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 a (new)
Citation 16 a (new)
— having regard to the European Parliament’s report on the implementation of the EU requirements for exchange of tax information: progress, lessons learnt and obstacles to overcome (2020/2046(INI)),
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 b (new)
Citation 16 b (new)
— having regard to the European Parliament’s report on reforming the EU policy on harmful tax practices (including the reform of the Code of Conduct Group) (2020/2258(INI)),
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the unprecedented impact and magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis on the economy has led to a decrease in tax revenues and an increase in debt and fiscal expenditures to protect society and the economy, and is leading to a sharp increase in government debt; whereas tax fraud and tax evasion undermines government revenues, as well as the sustainability and digitalisation of public finances and taxation systems; whereas it is paramount to keep taxes low to support the growth of the economyfocus on the economic and social recovery of the Union and to support jobs and growth while discouraging increase in tax;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas a swift recovery requires a strong economic and fiscal policy response through reforms and investments ensuring, inter alia: (i) an effective level playing field for businesses, including less red tape to promote competition, as well as both domestic trade and trade within the Single Market, supported by a simple, digital and more predictable tax environment; (ii) securing tax revenues for Member States to finance the recovery and reduce debt to GDP and (iii) fair taxation of businesses and citizens, enhancing transparency and both trust in society and fair competition through coordinated and digitalised reporting systems;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas there is a need to build more mutual trust and cooperation between the tax authorities of the Member States and share best practices across the Member States in view of consolidating and harmonising national reporting systems;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that the Commission’s decision to carry out initiatives aimed at enhancing cooperation among tax authorities and increased harmonisation of procedural rules across the single market is of the highest importance; welcomes the Commission’s initiative for the ‘EU cooperative compliance programme’ as a method of closer cooperation between tax authorities and business and recommends clear eligibility and functioning rules, as well as a potential expansion of the programme towards VAT-related issues;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the Commission's proposal to modernise, simplify and harmonise VAT requirements, using transaction-based 'real time' reporting and e-invoicing; notes that such reporting needs to be taxpayer-friendly while allowing tax administrations to have an overview of the various transactions in real-time, facilitating the prevention and detection of fraud and risky economic operators; considers that reporting requirements and tax forms should converge across the Member States; believes that the use of the data-mining tool Transaction Network Analysis (TNA) represents anone of the available wayoptions to reduce tax fraud and promotes its further development and sharing of best practices among Member States;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Recalls that any tax measures, temporary or not, should foster and not hamper the competitiveness of European businesses; stresses that the reporting requirements should not generate higher administrative costs for economic actors, notably for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); notes that to effectively address lost tax revenues, better quality and possible higher quantities of data may be needed, but only data effectively used, and collected from taxpayers only once with utmost security, should be collected; notes that data should aim to simplify various obligations of taxpayers, in particular in the area of VAT returns and recapitulative statements, while artificial intelligence (AI) and various softwares should be used to maximise the effectiveness of the use of data;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Reiterates the importance of NextGenerationEU funds for the economic recovery of the Union and highlights the opportunity to use the Recovery and Resilience Facility to purse fiscal reforms and investments into a sustainable and digitalised fiscal system;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Recalls that the Fiscalis program for the period 2021-2027, with a budget of EUR 269 million, aims to fight tax injustice by helping national tax authorities to cooperate better to combat tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recalls that tax transparency and certainty based on clear respective rights and duties is the main principle on which to build mutual trust between taxpayers; supports, in that context, the formalisation of the Charter on taxpayer’s rights, more consistency on tax residence rules for individuals and an increased exchange of information; believes that further development and the identification of gaps in effective European dispute resolution mechanism need to be considered;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Notes that Member States are legally bound to send data only for those categories for which information is already available and as a consequence there is still a general lack of information concerning certain categories of income and assets; calls on the Commission to extend the automatic exchange of information to crypto-assets (DAC8);
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Welcomes the actions undertaken by the Commission in the area of prevention and resolution of double VAT taxation disputes; notes that such disputes are likely to increase due to emerging economic trade models;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that the Union decision- making process is not promoting change, as tax policy is a national prerogative and subject to unanimity; regrets that the current situation sometimes leads to an uneven or inconsistent application of tax regulations and to a delay in harmonisation of tax practices across the Union; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure more harmonised and consistent tax rules and their implementation, to protect the functioning of the single market and to assure the principle of “taxing where profit is generated”;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Takes note of the existing limits on decision making in the Council and calls for exploring all legal options as provided in the Treaties on taxation especially, in particular the transition towards qualified majority voting, in order to ensure functionality of the single market and preserve Union competitiveness in the global market; calls on the Conference on the Future of Europe to further explore the decision- making process of the taxation policies, in the context of the protection of the Union's financial interests;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Observes that the current EU VAT system remains too complex and vulnerable to fraud, while generating high compliance costs for economic operators8 ; notes that the different measures to tackle tax fraud are adopted in the Member States; recalls that the modernisation of the VAT system and Union's network of anti-fraud experts, Eurofisc, must, in order to be effective, be strengthened and provided withe shift towards a more coherent VAT system across the Union should be addressed urgently9 ufficient resources to carry out joint risk analyses, coordinate investigations and cooperate with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Europol and the European Public Prosecutor's Office, in particular with a view to investigating VAT fraud; welcomes Transaction Network Analysis (TNA) and supports the establishment of enhanced cooperation between Eurofisc members in order to rapidly detect carousel-type fraud; _________________ 8 As per the EPRS’ EAVA (September 2021), the VAT gap, including cross- border VAT evasion and fraud, could be estimated at around €120 billion in 2020, page 42. 9As per the EPRS' EAVA (September 2021), the estimated added value of the extended cooperation between the Member States plus the full implementation of the OSS could bring a reduction of est. €29 billion of the VAT gap, and a reduction of est. €10 billion in compliance costs for businesses, page 39.
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Stresses that tackling the VAT gap and tax fraud should be an urgent priority for the Union and the Member States in the post-COVID-19 economy; expresses its concern about the level of the VAT gap estimated at around EUR 140 billion in 2018, whereof EUR 50 billion is related to cross-border tax evasion and fraud; notes with concern that according to the Commission’s assessment, the VAT gap could rise to more than EUR 160 billion due to COVID-19; notes that the complex composition of the VAT gap requires multiple actions, tailored to the specific parts of the drivers behind the gap;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Stresses that Member States still use various criteria to determine tax residence status, creating a risk of double taxation or double non-taxation; recalls in this regard the July 2020 Commission action plan announcing a Commission legislative proposal in 2022/2023 clarifying where taxpayers that are active across borders in the Union are to be considered residents for tax purposes; looks forward to this Commission’s proposal which should aim at ensuring a more consistent determination of tax residence within the Single Market;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. Welcomes the review of the current VAT exemption on financial services, in particular following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union and the revision of the national rules in this area; stresses that the review should ensure that VAT rules on financial services are fit for current digital economy, including Fintech, and that an international level playing field is maintained for Union companies;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Highlights that the current global tax environment is outdated, and can only be fully addressed on a global level; considers that athe multilateral agreement negotiatedreached at the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS is a unique opportunity to make international tax architecture more consistent with the development of the economy by further addressing the distortions of fair competition in the market, which was accentuated during the COVID-19 crisis and highlighted problems related to the taxing of large multinational enterprises (MNEs);
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that the reduction of the estimated gap10 due to corporate tax avoidance at around EUR 35 billion per year from the previous Commission estimations of EUR 50-70 billion before anti-BEPS measures were introduced and the correlation between an improvement and the legislative efforts on tax avoidance carried out by the Commission; notes the implementation of the 2019 Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive and requests the need for an evaluation report by the Commission on its impact and implementation; stresses that situations where some firms are still able to reduce their tax bill is undermining fair competition in the single market and often harming the competitiveness of SMEs; _________________ 10 COM(2020) 312 final, page 5. There are other estimations, for example by the European Parliament, with estimated losses from financial crime, tax evasion and tax avoidance amounting to EUR 190 bn. Based on the OECD's comprehensive work in the Base Erosion Profit Shifting report (BEPS), Action 11, global revenue losses before any of the anti-BEPS measures were decided amounted to some USD 100-240 billion or 0.35 per cent of global GDP. The EU Commission estimated that some EUR 50-70 billion was attributable to the EU before the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directives I and II were agreed on by Member States.
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the historic two-pillar agreement reached at the G7OECD/G20 levelsInclusive Framework on the allocation of taxing rights and the application of a minimum effective tax rate of at least 15% on the global profits of MNEs; notes the need for effective implementationagreement requires all participants “to remove digital services taxes and other relevant similar measures (..) and to commit to not introducing such measures in the future”; notes the need for effective implementation of the two-pillar solution with the aim of ensuring a fairer distribution of profits and taxing rights among countries with respect to the largest and most profitable multinational companies; calls on the Commission to make the necessary legislative proposals to implement the agreement into Union law as quickly as possible after the finalisation of the technical work on the OECD approach; calls on the Council to swiftly adopt such proposals to have the agreeement effective in 2023;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Welcomes that the Union has developed coordination mechanisms such as peer review procedures within the Code of Conduct Group (CoC); underlines that within the CoC Member States re- examine, amend or abolish their existing tax measures that constitute harmful tax competition, as well as refrain from introducing new ones in the future; welcomes in this regard the European Parliament’s position from October 2021 calling for the reform of the criteria, the scope and governance of the CoC to ensure fair taxation within the Union;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Supports the rationale of the BEFITEuropean Commission’s proposal on BEFIT expected in 2023, with the view to design a new and single Union corporate tax rulebook, based on a formulary apportionment and a common tax base of income taxation for businesses, which will be providing clarity and predictability for companies, reflecting the consensus reached in the OECD Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 negotiations;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Part B – Recommendation B3 a (new)
Annex I – Part B – Recommendation B3 a (new)
Recommendation B3 a Recommendation - - Extension of automatic exchange of information The European Parliament calls for the extension of the automatic exchange of information between Member States on further categories of income and assets such as crypto-assets (DAC8). As Member States are legally bound to send data only for those categories for which information is already available and as a consequence there is still a general lack of information concerning categories of income and assets.
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Part C – Recommendation C1 – paragraph 1 – indent 1 a (new)
Annex I – Part C – Recommendation C1 – paragraph 1 – indent 1 a (new)
- Establish the role of e-invoicing in the real time reporting;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Part C – Recommendation C2 – paragraph 1 – indent 2 a (new)
Annex I – Part C – Recommendation C2 – paragraph 1 – indent 2 a (new)
- Propose a further extension of the scope of the OSS through covering some of all B2C supplies of goods for which the person liable for the payment of VAT is not established in the Member State in which the VAT is due, in order to reduce the VAT administrative burden related to cross-border trade;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Part C – Recommendation C2 – paragraph 1 – indent 2 b (new)
Annex I – Part C – Recommendation C2 – paragraph 1 – indent 2 b (new)
- Propose a further extension of the scope of the OSS through including certain B2B supplies of services, when the services supplied are predominantly B2C services (for instance admission to sporting or entertainment events), allowing to also declare the marginal B2B supplies in the EU OSS would simplify compliance for the non-established trader providing admission to such events;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Part C – Recommendation C2 – paragraph 1 – indent 2 c (new)
Annex I – Part C – Recommendation C2 – paragraph 1 – indent 2 c (new)
- Extend the scope of Article 196 of the VAT Directive, either by covering all services or by adding only those services for which this is considered convenient;