The amendments to Directive 2011/16/EU were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 5 July 2018.
The Directive aims at strengthening fiscal transparency and combating tax evasion at the level of the EU Member States.
The new reporting provisions will enter into force on 1 July 2020 and require tax intermediaries – accountants, tax advisors, consultants, banks, and lawyers – who provide their clients with cross-border financial schemes that can lead to tax evasion to report these structures to their national tax authorities.
We remind you that, last year, the European Commission proposed new strict transparency rules applicable to tax intermediaries. These rules have arrived in the context of the well-known information leaks, such as the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers, which have highlighted the way in which some of the intermediaries who design and promote tax planning systems for their customers actively assist companies and individuals for tax evasion purposes, usually through complex cross-border systems.
Member States are required to transpose the Directive into national laws and regulations by 31 December 2019, and the new reporting requirements will apply, as mentioned above, from 1 July 2020.
Member States will have the obligation to exchange information every three months, within one month from the end of the quarter in which the information was submitted. Thus, the first automatic exchange of information will be completed by 31 October 31 2020.
