EU reaches agreement on Anti-avoidance package
European Union (EU) member states have reached a compromise agreement on a proposed new anti-tax avoidance directive. The European Council reached a broad agreement on the draft directive on June 17, subject to a silence procedure. Further details of the arrangements were released on June 21. The directive will be submitted to a forthcoming Council meeting for its formal adoption. The directive sets out five key anti-avoidance measures, which all member states will be required to apply. They are: A controlled foreign company (CFC) rule to deter profit shifting to no- or low-tax jurisdictions. The rule will allow the member state where a parent company is located to tax certain profits that the company "parks" in a no- or low-tax country. It will be triggered if the tax paid in the third country is less than half of that which would have been paid in the member state in question. The company will be given a tax credit for any taxes it paid abroad. An exit tax on assets moved from an EU member state's territory, based on the value of the assets at that point in time. Companies will be obliged to send tax authorities their balance sheets, containing information on their...