Abstract:

European Union recognized aggressive tax planning as a global issue. Practices that consist in taking advantage of the technicalities of the tax system or of mismatches between two or more tax systems for the purpose of reducing tax liabilities, result in the erosion of the national tax bases for EU Member States. European Parliament analysis showed that cross-border companies pay on average 30% less tax than the entities active in only one country. The corporate tax avoidance in Europe was estimated to cost EU countries EUR 50-70 billion a year in lost tax revenues. Fighting aggressive tax practices was therefore considered essential for fairer and more efficient taxation. A special attention has been directed also to so-called “tax rulings”, used by several EU Member States. The aim of the study is to identify the main problematic issues connected with the secret tax rulings and to analyze the last European initiatives aimed at increasing transparency and enhancing the international cooperation between EU Member States. The article studies the process of implementing the automatic exchange of information on cross border tax rulings to the European legal order and presents its consequences, both for EU Member States and for multinational enterprises. It also draws some perspectives for future strengthening the European system of tax information exchange.