{"id":20990,"date":"2013-05-24T07:23:44","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T06:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=20990"},"modified":"2013-05-24T07:23:44","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T06:23:44","slug":"the-rush-to-country-by-country-reporting-is-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2013\/05\/24\/the-rush-to-country-by-country-reporting-is-on\/","title":{"rendered":"The rush to country-by-country reporting is on"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bloomberg\u00a0reported\u00a0yesterday that:<\/a><\/p>\n

The European Union will seek to make large companies disclose the taxes they pay and profits they make on a country-by-country basis as it seeks to crack down on firms evading their obligations.<\/p>\n

Michel Barnier, the EU\u2019s financial services chief, will seek to put the transparency rules in place \u201cas quickly as possible,\u201d\u00a0Chantal Hughes, his spokeswoman, said in Brussels today. The measures would also cover subsidies that companies receive, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the equivalent of what we already do for\u00a0banks,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cThe idea is therefore to expand that to all large companies operating in the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnier\u2019s push comes amid international controversy on whether companies like\u00a0Apple Inc. and\u00a0Google Inc. \u00a0are taking excessive advantage of cross-border tax loopholes. EU leaders vowed this week to investigate \u201caggressive\u201d tax planning, and pledged support for tougher corporate transparency rules.<\/p>\n

The EU has already taken some steps toward introducing such country-by-country reporting requirements.<\/p>\n

European Parliament lawmakers insisted earlier this year that draft bank capital rules be expanded to include transparency on taxes, profits and subsidies. The EU has also agreed on similar rules for gas, oil and mining companies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What this refers to and builds on is the new requirement under\u00a0\u00a0the Capital Requirement Directive which demands that banks disclose profits made, taxes paid and subsidies received, as well as turnover and number of employees for each country where they operate.\u00a0This information will be included in the banks\u2019 audited annual reports. From 2014, the information will be disclosed to the European Commission (EC). From 2015, the data will be made public, unless the EC finds significant economic disadvantages when carrying out an impact assessment, in which case they can propose a delay.<\/p>\n

This is not full\u00a0country-by-country reporting as I define it<\/a>. There is no balance sheet and cash flow data. Nor, crucially, is there intra-group data - which will mean that quite a lot of the reporting may look a little meaningless - although that may be to the disadvantage of firms that report in that way I suspect.<\/p>\n

But this is, none the less, undoubtedly proper\u00a0country-by-country reporting even if not absolutely everything I'd wish for.<\/p>\n

And because all that is required is a change from\u00a0requiring\u00a0this for banks to requiring this for all\u00a0multinational corporations the measure can go through in days or weeks at most since the\u00a0legislation\u00a0for the banks is not yet quite finalised and so can still be amended.<\/p>\n

The rush to\u00a0country-by-country reporting has begun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bloomberg\u00a0reported\u00a0yesterday that: The European Union will seek to make large companies disclose the taxes they pay and profits they make on a country-by-country basis as
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