On 13 March 2018, the Council has reached agreement on a proposal which is aimed at boosting transparency in order to tackle aggressive cross-border tax planning. The draft directive will require intermediaries such as tax advisors, accountants and lawyers that design and/or promote tax planning schemes to report schemes that are considered potentially aggressive. EU member states will be required to automatically exchange the information with each other so as to be able to identify new risks of tax avoidance at an early stage.
All EU Member States will have until 31 December 2019 to transpose it into national laws and regulations, while the new reporting requirements will apply as from 1 July 2020. Member states will be obliged to exchange information every three months, with the first automatic exchange of information to be completed by 31 October 2020.
