CFE Opinion Statement on proposed SAFE Directive
CFE Tax Advisers Europe has issued an Opinion Statement on the EU Commission’s public consultation on the policy options being considered ‘to improve a regulatory framework for tax intermediaries’, through a legislative proposal to tackle the role of ‘Enablers’ that facilitate tax evasion and aggressive tax planning in the European Union (Securing the Activity Framework of Enablers – SAFE).
The Opinion Statement indicates that whilst CFE Tax Advisers Europe and its Member Organisations have always been supportive of reasonable and proportionate initiatives of the European Union, CFE believes that there is a mismatch between the European Commission’s stated objective of tackling aggressive tax planning and tax evasion, and the outlined policy options which focus solely on tackling the role of Enablers.
CFE notes the Commission’s view that despite all of the measures taken by the EU and Member States in this area, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning continue to be a substantial problem in the European Union. However, the CFE is of the view that it would be inappropriate to introduce further measures without first fully evaluating the impact of the measures recently introduced and recommends that no additional legislative action is taken by the Commission until such analysis has been performed.
CFE’s view is that any EU proposals should not have a disproportionate impact on reputable tax advisers, i.e., members of professional organisations who are giving advice on market-based, commercial transactions.
Click here to view the Opinion Statement.