Europese ministers akkoord met maatregelen tegen belastingparadijzen (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU finance ministers i have given their political blessing to an overhaul of the bloc's rules on savings tax, in a bid to clamp down on tax havens.
The move to change the EU's Savings Tax Directive - which came into force in 2005 - comes by way of pressure from Germany in response to a massive tax fraud, reported in February, which involved Liechtenstein and some 1,400 individuals, including 600 German citizens.
The persons had set up funds in the tiny principality in order to avoid taxes in their home countries, prompting Berlin to urge other European countries to force banks and financial institutions in tax havens to disclose information about their clients based in EU member states.
Following the meeting of national finance chiefs in Brussels on Wednesday (14 May), EU tax commissioner Laszlo Kovacs signalled that he would amend the current rules in a way advocated by Germany, improving the exchange of information between banks and extending the scope of the directive.
He also said most ministers supported the idea of including some legal persons under the scope of the legislation as so far "only private persons can be the beneficiaries of the directive."
The new rules are also expected to cover other types of financial products such as trusts and foundations, as "today it is only bank accounts [which are affected]," Mr Kovacs added.
"These are the major guidelines...which will orient the commission in what way we can make...formulate the amendments of the directive to close the loopholes," said the Hungarian commissioner.
Germany claims it loses as much as €30 billion each year in tax fraud and the EU executive has been asked to provide an interim report on how the current rules work until the end of September.
The savings tax took 14 years to be adopted and it is expected to undergo a long and stormy legislative procedure before a new compromise is reached.
Luxembourg has already signalled opposition to the idea, while Austria and Belgium suggested they would not be willing to supply information on savers' accounts to other countries.