The European Commission confirmed, on 27 May, that it will present a new legislative proposal establishing a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) by the end of 2016. This tax base would not initially be consolidated, but would become obligatory for multinationals.
The measure is part of an action plan aimed at "making company taxation fairer, more conducive to growth and more transparent," due to be adopted by the College of Commissioners on 17 June. On 27 May, the commissioners…
EU-Switzerland: New tax agreement signed
On 27 May, Switzerland and the EU signed a new agreement on automatic information exchange on taxation matters. If the ratification process goes ahead without incident in Switzerland (parliament must vote on it, and a referendum could be held), the two parties will exchange banking data on non-residents from 2018 onwards. This will be collected in Switzerland from 2017 onwards. "This is a historic agreement on a political, economic and symbolic level," said the Commissioner in charge of taxation, Pierre Moscovici. The Swiss Secretary of State for International Financial Matters, Jacques de Watteville, said the agreement is "a major step forward" in terms of "standardising relations between Switzerland and the EU". In order to prevent any hitches, de Watteville urged the EU to relaunch "exploratory talks" aimed at evaluating the "feasibility" of a bilateral agreement on access to the EU's financial services market. These talks were stopped by the Commission one month after they began – the executive's way of reminding Berne that the headache over freedom of movement must be resolved. "I understand the reasoning," said de Watteville, "but it does not make much sense" to block discussions on financial services at this point. "All progress made will facilitate the ratification of the taxation agreement" in Switzerland, he said. Meanwhile, Moscovici heard the message loud and clear, saying: "I will do all I can […] to ensure that all these dossiers move forward".
