global Tax All European Union States Now Under Scrutiny of Regulators March 09, 2015 Regulators continue efforts to ensure that multinational companies are shelling out a fair share of their profits in taxes. All 28 member countries of the European Union (EU) have been asked to release information on tax arrangements with multinational companies, made between 2010-2013. Antitrust regulators, in requesting this information, are aiming to delve deeper into preventing corporate tax avoidance. How is it working? The EU antitrust regulators have been diligently analyzing tax arrangements granted in Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Britain, Cyprus, Malta, and Belgium, to spot any unfair tax advantages. However, without concrete evidence of misconduct, it is unclear whether the Commission is permitted to extract this information from countries. This challenge was raised, but ultimately dropped by Luxembourg. In addition, several countries have been asked to release data on tax breaks connected to patents with respect to “patent box” regimes. For a more detailed explanation of the new regulations, read our article, “Regulators extend tax probe to all European Union states”.
