During its meeting of April 5, 2022 the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council again did not come to unanimity on a proposal for a Council Directive on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational groups in the Union. According to French Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire Poland was opposing the Directive.

The ministers had a policy debate on the aforementioned proposal to transpose into EU law the global agreement reached at OECD level according to which large multinational corporations may not pay less than 15% taxes anywhere in the world.

During a press conference after the meeting, EU Commissioner Dombrovskis and French Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire stated that the Council did not come to a unanimous position on the proposal.

The French Minister of Finance stated that during the previous meeting several Member Sates raised technical concerns with respect to the proposed text of the Directive. According to the French Minister of Finance these issues had all been addressed. Consequently, according to him, there were no more technical obstacles to adopt the text of the Directive.

Le Maire continued by stating that Poland had previously raised concerns regarding the link between digital taxation in Pillar 1 and the minimum taxation of Pillar 2. Le Maire was of the opinion that this issue was addressed by drafting the text of a joint statement, making it clear that the intention was that both Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 would be implemented as swiftly as possible. According to the French Minister of Finance Poland decided to oppose this text/this Directive. According to him for Poland an intention was not enough, the link should be a legally binding link, which according to Lemaire is impossible to realize. Consequently the matter will be back on the agenda of upcoming ECOFIN Council meetings.

A recording of the press conference can be viewed here.

A recording of the discussion in the matter as it took place in the ECOFIN Council of April 5, 2022 can be found here.

Copyright – internationaltaxplaza.info

Are you looking for a highly motivated new member for your tax team and are you interested in supporting International Tax Plaza? Then place your Job Ad on International Tax Plaza!

and

Follow International Tax Plaza on Twitter (@IntTaxPlaza)