30% ruling and 150 km rule: no systematic overcompensation according to Dutch Supreme Court
According to the Dutch Supreme Court, the 150 kilometre criterion under the 30% ruling for employees hired from abroad (expats) is EU proof. The limits of the ruling (the ‘30% of the taxable base’ and the ‘150 kilometre distance from the Dutch border’) were set in such a way that the 30% ruling does not
European Commission proposes Anti-Tax Avoidance Package
On 28 January 2016, the EU Commission presented its Anti-Tax Avoidance Package. The continuing political will to address tax avoidance may result in the 100% consensus required by EU Member States to effect the proposed tax changes. The EU-28 governments will have to decide if they are willing to go further than the G20/OECD BEPS
Enhanced transparency for multinational enterprises: Multilateral agreement enabling automatic sharing of Country-by-Country reports signed
31 countries signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on 28 January 2016, which will bring greater sharing of information in international tax matters. The MCCA provides for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports, enabling tax administrations to obtain a complete understanding of how multinational enterprise operations are structured across the value chain, while ensuring
Luxembourg, Cyprus and Seychelles removed from OECD’s list of uncooperative tax havens
On 30 October 2015, the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (‘Global Forum’) announced that Cyprus, Luxembourg and the Seychelles are no longer deemed to be non-compliant with the OECD Exchange of Information standard and assigned a new overall rating of ‘Largely Compliant’, following significant changes to their legal
Update – Netherlands – Case law on the 150 km criterion of the 30% regime
As mentioned in our headline of 27 February 2015, the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ’) issued a preliminary ruling on the question whether the 150 km criterion of the 30% regime for incoming workers is to be upheld. The ECJ was of the opinion that the 150 km criterion – in itself – does not
Update – Case law on exemption method for foreign employment income incompatible with EU Law
As mentioned in our headline of 15 July 2014, the Belgian tax authorities published a practice note (updating their position on to the attribution of personal tax benefits) after Belgium was sentenced by the European Court of Justice for breaching EU law. The relevant judgement indicated that EU law is violated where a taxpayer cannot
EU Commission’s final decisions in Starbucks and Fiat state aid cases
On 21 October 2015, the European Commission decided that Luxembourg and the Netherlands have granted selective tax advantages to Fiat Finance and Trade and Starbucks, respectively. These are illegal under EU state aid rules. For more information on the key aspects of the investigation and its impact, please have a look at our news alert.
Agreement on automatic exchange of information within the EU
On 6 October 2015, the EU Finance Ministers reached political agreement in the Council to amend Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation. The revised directive will require member states to automatically exchange a basic set of information on advance cross-border tax rulings (rulings) and advance pricing arrangements (APAs), both of which
