On April 6, 2022 the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) regarding the Proposal for a Council Directive laying down rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes and amending Directive 2011/16/EU has become available on the website of the Council of the European Union.
From the conclusions and recommendations
The EESC fully supports the Commission proposal on the misuse of shell companies for tax purposes and its objectives.
The EESC considers the proposal to be in line with the proportionality principle, since it does not go beyond ensuring the necessary level of protection for the single market, with an apparently reasonable impact on companies.
The EESC believes that adequate checks should be carried out with regard not only to corporate income but also to assets, given that taxes can be levied even if such assets do not generate any income, as for example in the case of wealth taxes.
The EESC recommends that targeted rules to prevent the activity of "professional enablers" be laid down in a different legislation, thus following the OECD approach to the subject matter. The EESC believes that the cooperation of professional supervisory bodies in combatting malpractice and possible criminal activities carried out by "professional enablers" would be of great value.
The EESC suggests that the Commission issue appropriate guidelines regarding the substance test set forth by the Directive, with particular regard to the meaning of specific terms such as "residence", "resident director" and "premises".
The full text of the opinion of the EESC can be found here.
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