The priorities of the European Union are determined by the country which holds the EU Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Despite reports of renewed efforts by France and Germany to fast-track Corporation Tax proposals within the European Union, it is up to the Presidency to decide.
“Agendas and priorities are set by the EU Member State which holds the Presidency, currently Denmark” according to Chartered Accountants Ireland Director of Taxation Brian Keegan. ”While the Danes make reference to Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base proposals in their agenda for their Presidency, their tax priorities seem to lie in the area of environmental taxation and modernising the existing EU wide rules”.
It is not for the Council President Mr von Rompuy, nor for Mr Barroso and his Commission nor indeed for the European Parliament to determine where EU policy priorities lie. “Current EU proposals for a Europe wide Corporation tax system are less than a year old. Many EU tax proposals, even the more straightforward ones, have taken 10 years or more to come to fruition. Even if the discussions on the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base were to be fast tracked as much as possible, the detailed proposals might not be finalised for another year at best” said Mr Keegan.
By this time next year, Ireland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Ends. 19 January 2012
Reference – Brian Keegan, Chartered Accountants Ireland, 087 2347329
Notes for editors
- Germany and France are the two EU countries which collect the least Corporation Tax. They are less reliant on Corporation Tax to fund their government expenditure than any other state in the EU.
- A draft directive for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) was published in March 2010
- there are three elements to the CCCTB proposals – a new system for calculating taxable profits, an apportionment system where profits arise in more than one EU Member State, and collection of tax by each individual EU member state.
- Many EU member states have concerns over particular aspects of the proposals, not least the apportionment system which will in effect decide the amount of Corporation Tax collected by countries.