Mandatory Automatic Exchange of Information in the Field of Taxation in Relation to Reportable Cross-Border Arrangements. Analysis of the EU Directive 6804/18

Abstract

The necessity for a mandatory disclosure obligation for intermediaries who project cross-borderschemes for their clients, that involve routing assets to or through offshore entities, is very felt atinternational level, especially in consequence of the recent scandals that highlighted phenomenaof tax evasion/elusion - in particular, “Panama Papers” and “Paradise Papers”. These complexcross-border schemes facilitate tax evasion, tax fraud and money laundering, because each taxjurisdiction evaluates a part of the system within its borders.Considering this scenario, the EU Directive 6804/18 was introduced to provide a set of rulesrelated to the counter of tax avoidance/evasion phenomena and increasing levels of transparencywith regard to the exchange of information between the authorities of the Member States withinthe Union. From the moment of its enforcement, the Directive obliges intermediaries, proposingand commercializing transnational financial schemes to their clients, with the purpose tofacilitate tax avoidance, to report the establishment of such mechanisms to the tax authorities ofthe Member State to which they belong. In turn, the authorities of the aforementioned EUMember States will be compelled, as stated from the Directive, to exchange this information witheach other authorities, in order to increase control over the activities of consultants and taxplanners, regardless of the imminent possibility of a real risk.