Mediapart explains how France and Belgium have encouraged tax evasion within the EU
https://fr.sputniknews.com/20211112/mediapart-exquête-comment-la-france-et-la-belgique-ont-favorise-levasion-fiscale-au-sein-de-lue-1052571888.html
Mediapart explains how France and Belgium have encouraged tax evasion within the EU
Mediapart explains how France and Belgium have encouraged tax evasion within the EU
Based on 2,500 documents from the group called Code of Conduct for the Council of the EU, Mediapart explains how France, Germany or even … 11.12.2021, Sputnik France
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Europe
Germany
France
Belgian
tax evasion
mediapart
Fiscal paradise
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The mechanisms of tax evasion in Europe are not favored by countries like Cyprus or Luxembourg, but also by “heavyweights” of the European economy, such as France and Germany, reveals a Mediapart survey of which journalists were able to consult 2,500 secret documents from one of the “most opaque and influential working groups in Brussels”. ‘harmonize European taxation, explains Mediapart. Their voice is sometimes decisive when it comes to a tax package favorable to a multinational or adding a country to the list of tax havens.Since its establishment in 1998, the group has reviewed 480 tax regimes , of which 130 were deemed “harmful”, according to data provided by its president, the Bulgarian Lyudmila Petkova. Or, the Dutch academic Martijn Nouwen, contacted by Mediapart, puts forward a figure of more than 600 assemblies scrutinized, of which a little more than a hundred dismantled. France behind the proliferation of “patent boxes”? Among the mechanisms considered by the group in particular many “patent boxes”, or “patent boxes”, which aim to tax little intellectual property in order to attract as many companies as possible to the country. long established such a mechanism with a taxation at 15% against an ordinary rate of 33%, allowed between 200 and 300 companies to benefit from it, which resulted in a loss of earnings of 250 to 850 million euros depending on the year for the French state, according to figures from the OECD. What is more, the Code of Conduct documents proving that “France is partly responsible for the proliferation of these controversial regimes through Europe “, notes Mediapart. The code did not contest the French model, which encouraged other states, including Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, to adopt similar mechanisms. to reform its taxation on patents only from 2019, “well after everyone”. “It therefore took more than 15 years for the Code of Conduct group to succeed in eliminating the most toxic aspects of French-style” patent boxes “, indicates Mediapart. Belgium and Germany pointed out At the same time, the documents consulted by Mediapart proving that experts had known for a long time the existence of thousands of “fiscal rulings”, that is to say agreements concluded between a State and a multinational in order to soften its taxation. 2003, the group came out in favor of an automatic exchange of information on cross-border rulings. Or, France “is reluctant to publish its national rulings, but above all to commit to a common” European policy in this area, citing “red tape”. For its part, Berlin is opposed to the publication of the agreements, highlighting the federal nature of the country. Moreover, Mediapart notes that the States often repeat themselves “more inventive than companies to imagine new advantageous regimes”. Seemingly as an example, its journalists cite the validation in 2006 by the group of the Belgian mechanism of “notional interest” consisting, for a company, of deducting from its taxable income a “fictitious” interest calculated on its own funds and whose rate correspond to the rate of return on long-term linear bonds. This system has enabled Belgium to attract companies from all over the world and inspired other countries, including Italy, Cyprus and Portugal. Only in 2018 the kingdom agreed to toughen the criteria of its notional interests.
Germany
France
Belgian
2021
Dmitry Basssenko
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Dmitry Basssenko
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Dmitry Basssenko
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france, germany, belgium, tax evasion, mediapart, tax haven
Based on 2,500 documents from the group called Code of Conduct to the Council of the EU, Mediapart explains how France, Germany and even Belgium have complicated the fight against corporate tax evasion.
Since its establishment in 1998, the group has reviewed 480 tax regimes, 130 of which were deemed “harmful”, according to data provided by its president, the Bulgarian Lyudmila Petkova. Or, the Dutch academic Martijn Nouwen, contacted by Mediapart, puts forward a figure of more than 600 vetted assemblies, including a little more than a hundred dismantled.
France behind the proliferation of “patent boxes”?
Among “patent boxes”, or “patent boxes”, or
France, which has long established such a mechanism with a 15% taxation against an ordinary rate of 33%, has allowed between 200 and 300 companies to take advantage of it, which has resulted in a lack of earn from 250 to 850 million euros depending on the year for the French state, according to figures from the OECD.
What is more, the Code of Conduct documents proving that “France is partly responsible for the proliferation of these controversial regimes across Europe”, Mediapart. The code did not contest the French model, which encouraged other states, including Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, to adopt similar mechanisms.
France did not agree to reform its tax system on patents until 2019, “well after everyone”. “It therefore took more than 15 years for the Code of Conduct group to succeed in eliminating the most toxic aspects of French-style” patent boxes “, says Mediapart.
Belgium and Germany pointed out
Already in 2003, the group declared itself in favor of an automatic exchange of information on cross-border rulings. Or, France “is reluctant to publish its national rulings, but above all to commit to a common” European policy in this area, citing “red tape”. For its part, Berlin is opposed to the publication of the agreements, emphasizing the federal nature of the country.
Moreover, Mediapart states that the States often find themselves “more inventive companies to imagine new advantageous regimes”. Seemingly as an example, its journalists cite the validation in 2006 by the group of the Belgian mechanism of “notional interest” consisting, for a company, of deducting from its taxable income a “fictitious” interest calculated on its own funds and whose rate correspond to the rate of return on long-term linear bonds.
This system has enabled Belgium to attract companies from all over the world and inspired other countries, including Italy, Cyprus and Portugal. Only in 2018 the kingdom agreed to toughen the criteria of its notional interests.
