The EU Council Directive for mandatory automatic exchange of tax information in cross-border arrangements provides that all intermediaries and, in their absence, the taxpayer involved in potentially aggressive cross-border tax arrangements (that may lead to tax avoidance and evasion) must report them to the competent tax authorities. In a Belgian case the European Court of Justice took the chance to comment on various general aspects of the Directive.
On 12 December 2019, the Bundestag adopted the Act for the Mandatory Reporting of Cross-Border Tax Planning Arrangements. The final approval by the Bundesrat will take place on 20 December 2019.
On 13 March 2018, the ECOFIN Council, composed of the EU-28 Finance Ministers, reached political agreement on a Council Directive amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation in relation to reportable cross-border arrangements in order to disclose potentially aggressive tax planning arrangements (also commonly referred to as DAC6).
At its sitting on 22 September 2017 the Bundesrat (Federal Council/upper house) expressly welcomed the proposal for an amendment of Council Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation to impose a reporting obligation on cross-border schemes. It has long been a demand of the Bundesrat that rules on reporting obligations be introduced.
The EU and Liechtenstein have signed a tax transparency agreement for the automatic exchange of information between the authorities of Liechtenstein and the EU member states on the bank accounts held locally for residents of the other state.
