Resumen de Tax Transparency in the European Union Regarding Country by Country Reporting (BEPS Action 13)
One goal of the fight against aggressive tax planning is to improve tax transparency of the globalized activities of Multinational Entities (MNE). The OECD Action Plan No. 13 does not only recommend a unilateral implementation of a Country-by-CountryReporting (CbCR), but also an additional implementation package composed of a Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) and bilateral agreements. In line with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) tax policy the European Union (EU) has already amended again the Council Directive 2011/16/EU (hereinafter ‘DAC 1’) by the Council Directive 2016/881/EU of 25 May 2016 (so-called DAC 4) implementing the OECD-CbCR-standard also on the EU-level. However, this action will respect, in general, the international tax secrecy (see Article 16 paragraph 4 DAC 1) as well as the business secrets of Article 17 paragraph 4 DAC 1. Furthermore, the EU commission has issued a proposal for a Directive amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches, COM (2016) 198 of 12 April 2016 (so-called Report on Income Tax Information – RITI). In contrast to DAC 4, the RITI will make the CbCR data public. This article will ask for legal consistency, a mismatch of legislative competence and the protection of business interests during the CbCR process.
