Accountants face fines for aggressive corporate tax planning under draft EU law

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21th of July 2017: Euronews

"Tax advisers in the European Union risk fines for helping companies to cut their tax bills by shifting profits to low-tax countries, if proposed new EU legislation gets approval. Under the draft law, proposed by the European Commission on Wednesday, tax advisers including the Big Four accounting firms, banks and lawyers, would be required to inform authorities about “potentially aggressive tax planning arrangements” set up for their clients. (...)

EU leftist lawmaker Fabio De Masi called for tougher sanctions, including the removal of business licences for advisers promoting aggressive tax planning. Under the new law, if there is no intermediary, or the tax adviser is located outside the EU, the obligation of disclosure would fall on the taxpayer using the arrangement. The proposal will need the approval of the European Parliament and all EU states to become law. Some EU states have shown little appetite to move fast in the fight against tax avoidance, saying it could hamper the competitiveness of European companies"

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