European Anti-Tax-Avoidance Regimes

Abstract

Abstract This chapter highlights European anti-tax avoidance regimes. The global initiative against tax avoidance and profit shifting has entailed profound changes in European Union (EU) direct tax law. In the past, anti-tax-avoidance rules grounded on EU secondary law were a rather scarce phenomenon and would traditionally take one of the following forms: (1) rules referring to domestic or agreement-based anti-avoidance provisions; and (2) rules denying the tax benefit of a directive, when the principal or one of the principal motives of a transaction is tax evasion or tax avoidance. One can observe that the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan has ushered in a new era of direct tax policy that has urged member states to reform their tax legislation in an unprecedented speed. The chapter looks at the EU toolbox against tax avoidance and addresses some challenges that follow from the implementation of the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive—the most significant EU legislative measure to counter abusive tax practices.