Activities of Anna-Michelle ASIMAKOPOULOU related to 2023/0322(CNS)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the proposal for a Council directive on transfer pricing
Amendments (17)
Amendment 51 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) Where Member States apply or interpret the arm’s length principle in a significantly differentl way, they create situations that could harm the internal market. Inconsistency and could lead to unnecessary costs for businesses in case of disputes. Such significant differences in applicable transfer pricing rules not only could lead to double taxation, but also allowcan also be misused for profit shifting and tax avoidance. Such inconsistency is a purposes. Such significant inconsistencies can present serious tax obstacle for businesses operating across borders, is likely to cause economic distortions and inefficiencies and has a negative impact on cross-border investment and growth. Tax administrations, however, should not automatically assume that associated enterprises have sought to manipulate their profits. There may be a genuine difficulty in accurately determining a market price in the absence of market forces or when adopting a particular commercial strategy. The consideration of transfer pricing should not be confused with the consideration of problems of tax fraud or tax avoidance, even though transfer pricing policies may be used for such purposes.
Amendment 57 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) This Directive lays down rules to ensure a common application of the arm’s length principle across the Union with the aim of increasing tax certainty and reducing occurrences of double taxation as well as double non taxation in line with the OECD guidelines.
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) To ensure that the arm’s length principle is applied in a uniform way across the Union, Member States should apply a common definition of associated enterprises derived from the OECD guidelines . In order to ensure equal treatment, a permanent establishment should be treated, for the purpose of this Directive, as an associated enterprise and thus the internal dealings between head office and permanent establishment should be determined in accordance with the arm’s length principle.
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) In order to minimise disputes, reduce related costs to businesses, and ensure a common approach across the Union, this Directive further provides that a taxpayer should not be subject to adjustment when its results fall within the interquartile range unless the tax administration or the taxpayer proves that a specific different positioning in the range is justified by the facts and circumstances of the specific case. When the results of a controlled transaction fall outside the arm's length range, tax administrations should be required to make an adjustment to the median of all the results unless the taxpayer or the tax administration proves that any other point of the range determines a more reliable arm’s length price in a given case.
Amendment 80 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) In order to lower the compliance burden for taxpayers that operate cross- border within the Union a common approach towards the documentation on transfer pricing should further be introduced. One standard template, rules on content and linguistic arrangements, timeframes and which taxpayers should be in scope would bring simplicity and potential cost savings taking into account chapter V ‘Documentation’ of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines and the Code of conduct on transfer pricing documentation for associated enterprises in the European Union33 . Harmonized interpretation of those terms at Union level is also necessary to facilitate application of this Directive by the tax administrations and businesses Therefore, Member States shall empower their tax administrations to deal efficiently with the common documentation efforts on transfer pricing. _________________ 33 Resolution of the Council and of the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 27 June 2006 on a code of conduct on transfer pricing documentation for associated enterprises in the European Union (EU TPD), 2006/C 176/01, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.C_.2 006.176.01.0001.01.ENG&toc=OJ%3AC %3A2006%3A176%3AFULL
Amendment 85 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) The rules provided by this Directive should be applied in in a manner consistent with the most up-to-date version of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines.
Amendment 88 #
(16) In order to create more certainty for taxpayers and mitigate the risk of double taxation, the possibility to establish further common transfer pricing binding rules by way of implementingdelegated acts is provided in this Directive. Those implementingdelegated acts should provide taxpayers with a clear view of what tax authorities in the Union would consider to be acceptable to be used for specified transactions and provide so- called ‘safe harbours’ that bring down the compliance burden and the number of disputes. In view of the potential impact of such measures on national executive and enforcement power regarding direct taxation, the exercising of taxing rights allocated under bilateral or multilateral tax conventions that prevent double taxation or double non-taxation and in view of potential impact on Member States’ tax bases, implementing powers to adopt decisions under this Directive should be conferred on the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 20
Recital 20
(20) The retention period of 105 years is justified in order to allow Member States to comply with most statutes of limitations.
Amendment 115 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point a
Amendment 118 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) a person participates in the control of another person through a holding that exceeds 2533 % of the voting rights;
Amendment 123 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) a person participates in the capital of another person through a right of ownership that, directly or indirectly, exceeds 25 33% of the capital;
Amendment 124 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) a person is entitled to 2533 % or more of the profits of another person.
Amendment 148 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 1
Article 10 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that the arm's length price is determined by applying the most appropriate transfer pricing method to the circumstances of thefor a particular case.
Amendment 180 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 3
Article 14 – paragraph 3
3. The rules referred to in paragraphs 2 shall be taken by means of Council implementingdelegated acts based on a proposal from the Commission.
Amendment 187 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1
Article 15 – paragraph 1
1. The Commission shall examine and evaluate the application of this Directive every 5 years and submit a report on its evaluation to the European Parliament and to the Council. The first report shall be submitted by 31 December 2031or after the adoption of updated OECD Guidelines on Transfer Pricing, whichever is earlier, and submit a report on its evaluation to the European Parliament.
Amendment 190 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 194 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 2
Article 16 – paragraph 2
2. Information, including personal data, processed in accordance with this Directive shall be retained only for as long as necessary to achieve the purposes of this Directive, in accordance with each data controller’s national law on statute of limitations, but in any case no longer than 105 years.