As part of its work programme, the European Commission issued a proposal for a codification directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation on February 12, 2020. In a statement in the context of a public feedback consultation on the draft law, CESI sketched its priorities for a functioning codification directive.

The main considerations for a codification directive on administration cooperation in the field of taxation raised by CESI include the following key aspects:

• In the private and the public sectors the text of the new directive (once implemented) will be a great challenge for all employees and civil servants. They have to change from the well-known traditional text of the six directives on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation to the new codified text of the new, unifying codification directive. Therefore it is a very useful advantage that the proposal does not change the global structure of the initial directive 2011/16/EU.

• The proposal for a new codification directive on administrative cooperation in the tax area is a technical work on the administrative level, containing no new measure to strengthen the cooperation rules. Therefore, CESI hopes that the proposal is not the final act of directives on administrative coooperation in the field of taxation, but a new efficient base for further tax cooperation actions in a more transparent way.

Read the full statement here.