Fiscalis programme

MEPs adopted the Fiscalis 2020 programme on 21 November, which aims to strengthen tax administrations and cooperation across the EU. The Greens worked to ensure that the fight against tax fraud, evasion and avoidance is at the core of the programme. It will strengthen tax authorities capacities and facilitate cooperation to help them work together to tackle the problem, maximising efficiency. In particular, it will also fund IT systems to support the exchange of information between tax administrations. The Greens also ensured civil society will have a greater input into the programme, so as to be on an equal footing with business interests.

Following the vote, Greens/EFA MEP Philippe Lamberts said:

“Supporting tax administration is very important. But in the end the fight against tax fraud will require substantial progress in the field of EU company tax law as well as the generalisation of automatic information exchange.”

We regret, however, that our reference to the need for generalisation and extension of automatic information exchange did not make it into the final text.

Our attempt to exploit this rare co-decision file in the field of taxation to enhance transparency on, for example, corporate tax rulings of tax havens like the Netherlands, Luxembourg and others failed when the report was still at committee level.