Better governance through more transparency on advance cross-border tax rulings

Abstract

In recent years, the challenge posed by tax fraud and tax evasion has increased considerably and has become a major concern within the European Union. As a consequence, in the European initiatives a special emphasis has been laid on the actions aimed at reinforcing the anti-abuse provisions in bilateral tax treaties, national legislation and EU corporate legislation. Any artificial arrangement carried out for tax avoidance purposes would be ignored and companies would be taxed instead on the basis of actual economic substance. The aim of the article is presenting the European initiative aimed at implementing the automatic mode of the exchange of information on cross-border tax rulings and advance pricing arrangements. The paper investigates if the implemented measure can help Member States to detect certain abusive tax practices taken by companies, and to take the effective actions in response. It also tries to answer the question whether the initiative can result in more transparency and – as a consequence – in much better governance, both at the states’ and the corporations’ level.