As already referred to in our newsflash of 13 April 2016, the European Commission has developed a proposal for a directive which, if approved by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, will require public country-by-country reporting (CbCR) of tax and other financial data by large companies in the European Union (EU). The proposed directive will amend the existing EU Accounting Directive.
The draft of the new directive was released on 12 April 2016 and follows the proposed changes to Directive 2011/16/EU (DAC4) in order to implement the OECD BEPS Action 13 CbCR requirements within the EU on the disclosure of information to tax authorities.
The implementation of CbCR under OECD BEPS Action 13 (which also covers the transfer pricing master file and local file) by law or through administrative guidance is one of the four minimum standards in the package of measures endorsed by the November 2015 G20 Leaders’ summit.
The draft directive must be approved by simple majority in the EU Parliament and then by qualified majority in Council. A qualified majority is reached if the following two conditions are met:
- 55% of Member States vote in favour – in practice this means 16 out of 28; and
- the proposal is supported by Member States representing at least 65% of the total EU population (but more than 35% will not block the vote unless at least one Member State also votes against).
