UK and International Tax news
EC Proposes Public Country By Country Reporting
Friday 15th April 2016
The European Commission is proposing to require large multinational companies to disclose publicly the income tax they pay within the EU on a country by country [CbC] basis. This proposal follows the announcement in February 2016 of its Anti Tax Avoidance Package – see our International Tax News item of 4 February 2016.
Any multinational company, whether European or not, that is currently active in the EU’s single market with a permanent presence in the EU and that has a turnover in excess of EUR 750m would have to comply with these additional transparency requirements.
Additional information to be disclosed on a CbC basis would include:
the nature of the activities, the number of employees, the total net turnover made, which includes the turnover made with third parties as well as between companies within a group, the profit made before tax, the amount of income tax due in the country as a reason of the profits made in the current year in that country, the amount of tax actually paid during that year, and the accumulated earnings.
The information would have to be disclosed for every EU country in which a company is active, as well as for any outside tax havens. Aggregate figures would also have to be provided for operations in other tax jurisdictions in the rest of the world. Reporting will also include explanations on discrepancies between the amounts of income tax actually paid and income tax accrued.
The information would be made available in a stand-alone report accessible to the public for at least five years on the company’s website. Companies would also have to file the report with a business register in the EU.
Since 2015, banks as well as other credit institutions and investment firms established in the EU have had to publish a stringent sectoral CbC report pursuant to Article 89 of the Capital Requirements Directive. Any bank in the EU must disclose this report and publish it together with its financial statements. The report includes CbC information on the names, nature of activities and geographical location, turnover, number of employees on a full-time-equivalent basis, profit or loss before tax, tax on profit or loss and public subsidies received.
In order to avoid multiple reporting, given the similarities observed with the CbC disclosure obligation applicable to banks, the EC proposes to allow these banking groups to continue to publish solely a CbC report in compliance with their sectoral requirements, as long as this report encompasses all of the group’s operations, i.e. including operations that may not be subject to prudential reporting.
There are currently no requirements on non-EU parent banks operating in the EU. The latest proposal will require these banks to publish a CbC report if their revenues exceed EUR 750m.
EU multinational companies with a turnover above EUR 750m would be responsible for the preparation of the reports.
For multinationals headquartered in non-EU countries, the responsibility would lie with the members of the administrative, management and supervisory bodies of the EU subsidiaries or with the persons responsible for carrying out the disclosure formalities for EU branches. In these cases, as the report would not have been drawn up by them, their responsibility would be limited to making sure that, to the best of their knowledge and ability, the report has been prepared and published according to the reporting requirements.
Companies subject to the publication requirement would have to submit the report to their external statutory auditors who would check that the report has been presented in accordance with the Directive, and made accessible on a website.
In case of non-compliance, the penalties already provided in the Accounting Directive would apply. National competent authorities or courts would be entitled to impose fines on companies. These penalties would have to be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. In the case of non-EU multinational enterprises, penalties could fall on all of their EU medium-sized or larger subsidiaries, or on their EU branches.
The proposal has been submitted to the European Parliament and Council for their consideration and final adoption by qualified majority of the Council. Once adopted, the new Directive would have to be transposed into national legislation by all EU member states, within one year after its entry in force.
For more detail on the above contact Keith Rushen on 0207 486 2378.
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