Considerations on COM(2024)11 - Authorisation of the Commission to open negotiations for the amendment of the five agreements on the automatic exchange of financial account information to improve international tax compliance between the EU and, respectively, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco and San Marino

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dossier COM(2024)11 - Authorisation of the Commission to open negotiations for the amendment of the five agreements on the automatic exchange of ...
document COM(2024)11
date January 17, 2024
 
(1) These five agreements0 at present provide the legal basis for the reciprocal automatic exchange of financial account information between each of the 27 EU Member States and each of these non-EU countries, in accordance with the internationally agreed OECD Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”). They are aimed at improving international tax compliance while assisting tax authorities in preventing and tackling tax fraud and evasion.

(2) The same standard is implemented within the EU for exchanges between its Member States under the Council Directive 2014/107/EU of 9 December 20140, the first amendment to Council Directive 2011/16/EU0 on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation.

(3) Important changes to the CRS were approved at international level on 26 August 20220, with implementation from 1 January 2026.

(4) The implementation of these changes within the EU has been included in the seventh amendment to Council Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation0.

(5) Article 8 of each of these five agreements contains identical provisions for bilateral formal consultations between the Contracting Parties to take place when an important change is adopted at OECD level to any of the elements of the Global Standard. Paragraph 4 of said Article 8 states: “Following the consultations, this Agreement may be amended by means of a protocol or a new agreement between the Contracting Parties”.

(6) It is in the interest of the European Union and its Member States to achieve a smooth continuation beyond 1 January 2026 of the cooperation in the field of automatic exchange of financial account information between tax authorities which is provided by these five agreements.

(7) To this aim, a negotiation should be opened with a view to amending these five agreements on the automatic exchange of financial account information to improve international tax compliance between the European Union and, respectively, the Swiss Confederation, the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Principality of Andorra, the Principality of Monaco and the Republic of San Marino.