Luxembourg’s Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna, has said that he welcomes a new measure aimed at aggressive tax planning by companies adopted at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) this Tuesday.
The new draft Anti Tax-Avoidance Directive (ATAD 2) is intended to prohibit multinational companies from escaping corporate tax by exploiting differences between the tax systems of Member States and those of non-EU countries, so-called 'hybrid mismatches’.
This follows the ATAD 1 directive adopted by ECOFIN in June 2016, aimed at tackling schemes such as intra-group loans and interest deductions for multinationals.
The Minister said that the ATAD 2 Directive thus underlines the willingness of EU Member States to play a leading role in the transposition of the OECD's BEPS recommendations and to actively combat aggressive tax planning.
"I welcome the adoption of this agreement, in which Luxembourg has actively participated. These new rules contribute to a fairer tax system and thus increase the coherence of the international tax system, in the interest of both companies and citizens," said Minister Gremagna, adding "on the initiative of Luxembourg, the European Commission has also undertaken to monitor closely the implementation of the OECD's BEPS recommendations at international level, in the spirit of respecting the 'level playing field'".
