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European finance ministers have settled the mandate for the European Commission to negotiate stalled tax transparency agreements with countries including Switzerland and Liechtenstein, in a critical step towards confirming the amended Savings Directive and establishing greater levels of automatic tax information exchange in the European Union (EU).
European finance ministers have settled the mandate for the European Commission to negotiate stalled tax transparency agreements with countries including Switzerland and Liechtenstein, in a critical step towards confirming the amended Savings Directive and establishing greater levels of automatic tax information exchange in the European Union (EU).
The UK signed a joint statement with 16 other EU member states – France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain among them – to press for the development of a new global standard for automatic exchange of information to tackle tax evasion, based on the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
The statement builds on the pilot automatic exchange of information recently announced by the European G5, of which the UK is a part. It will involve the automatic sharing of information on individuals’ accounts and those held by entities such as trusts. The overseas territories and the Isle of Man have agreed to participate in the new standard.
The government believes there is strong international consensus forming both in Europe and the G20 to put in place a new global standard on tax transparency, which the G7 countries backed at a recent meeting.
