ECOFIN Council conclusions on strengthened mutual assistance for the recovery of taxes
20 January 2010
The review directive on recovery of taxes will include the need to provide information held by banks and other financial institutions. It will provide for more flexible conditions for requesting assistance, requiring the spontaneous exchange of information.
The Council has reached agreement on a general approach, pending the opinion of the European Parliament, on a draft directive aimed at strengthening mutual assistance between member states for the recovery of taxes.
The directive will be adopted at a forthcoming Council meeting once the Parliament's opinion is available. The draft directive is aimed at better fulfilling member states' needs with regard to the recovery of taxes, providing an overhaul of directive 76/308/EEC (codified by directive 2008/55/EC), on the basis of which, since 1976, member states have engaged in mutual assistance aimed at clamping down on tax evasion.
National provisions on tax recovery are limited in scope to national territories and fraudsters have taken advantage of this to organise insolvencies in member states where they have debts. Member states are therefore increasingly requesting the assistance of other member states to recover taxes, but existing provisions have only allowed a small proportion of debts to be recovered.
The draft directive is intended to provide for an improved assistance system, with rules that are easier to apply, including information held by banks and other financial institutions, and provide for more flexible conditions for requesting assistance, requiring the spontaneous exchange of information.
© ECFIN
