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Council of the European Union

EU VAT proposals for e-books, reverse charge fail

The Council of European Union at a meeting today failed to reach agreement on proposals to reduce the VAT rate for electronic publications and temporarily apply a generalised reverse charge mechanism; the EU VAT e-commerce proposal was also discussed, writes Davide Anghileri of the University of Lausanne . . .

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Africa

EU removes Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis from tax blacklist, agrees on rules for intermediaries

MNE Tax contributing editor, Davide Anghileri, discusses a Council of the European Union May 25 meeting where EU States agreed on new rules for regulating intermediaries that design or promote tax planning schemes; new wording to be included in agreements with third countries on good governance in tax matters; and moving the Bahamas and Saint Kitts and Nevis from the EU’s tax blacklist list to its “gray list” . . . ,

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Council of the European Union

EU agrees to close hybrid instrument loophole

European Union finance ministers, on June 20, announced an agreement to revise the Parent-Subsidiary Directive to stop multinational entities from using hybrid instruments to achieve double nontaxation.

All 28 member states gave their full backing to the proposal at an Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting in Luxembourg. . . . 

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Council of the European Union

EU adds antiabuse rule to parent-subsidiary directive

The EU Council, on January 27, amended the EU parent-subsidiary directive, adding a new antiavoidance rule. The action follows up on a political agreement reached on December 9 to amend the directive. The directive exempts from taxation dividends and other profit distributions received by parent companies from subsidiaries located in different member states. The amended directive provides that tax exemptions for . . .

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Council of the European Union

EU to expand scope of automatic exchange of information

(Updated 10/15/2014) EU finance ministers on October 14 agreed to extend mandatory automatic exchange of information between tax administrations to interest, dividends, and other income, and to account balances and sales proceeds from financial assets.  

The agreement amends directive 2011/16/EU on administrative . . .