EU NEGOTIATORS AGREE ON NEW TAX RULES FOR BIG BUSINESSES

European Union (EU) negotiators have agreed on new tax rules for large businesses in the EU, putting an end to a lengthy internal dispute, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states agreed on the so-called country-by-country reporting rules on Tuesday, participants at the talks told dpa. Under the new rules, large businesses would have to disclose how many taxes they pay in which countries. The move is meant to limit options for large firms to avoid taxes.

The European Commission already proposed the change to the financial reporting rules in 2016. The European Parliament decided to promote the country-by-country mechanism in 2017, but member states only accepted the principle, after years of debate, in the last few months.

The latest negotiations covered the final details of the plan.

The rule applies to firms with more than 750 million euros ($916 million) in yearly turnover worldwide. In a country-specific report, they are to disclose their net revenue, profit or loss before taxes and the actually paid income tax.

The information is to be made available to all EU members and is to including data on taxes paid in the so-called blacklist of tax havens or in the so-called grey-list countries, such as Turkey.

"The agreement is a milestone for tax justice in Europe," finance expert Sven Giegold of Germany's Green party said. "Country-based tax transparency is a sharp tool against tax evasion.

If large businesses have to reveal their profits and paid taxes per business country, tax dumping will become apparent for everyone every year," he added.

This would harm the company's reputation and make Europe a pioneer in tax transparency.

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