European commissioner Michel Barnier says he expects banks to publish details of their tax payments by jurisdiction, as early as this summer.
In a speech made in Amsterdam in which he tackled sustainability and reporting, Barnier - whose duties include legislation for businesses - said the 'country-by-country' reporting rules which would compel banks to report their profits, taxes and subsidies by country as of 2015, could be brought forward, and would also bring other large multinationals that operate in the EC into the net.
'Moreover, the largest banks will also have to disclose their profits, taxes and subsidies in each member state and non-EU country where they operate. And in the line with yesterday's conclusion of the European Council we will expand these reporting obligations to large companies and groups,' said Barnier.
Barnier's announcement followed earlier decisions reached by the General Secretariat of the EC, which called for rapid progress over efforts concerning automatic exchange of tax information at the EU and global levels, along with progress concerning country-by-country reporting and disclosure of non-financial information.
The Secretariat also wants more a rapid pace for work against base erosion, profit shifting and the lack of transparency with tax issues, and additionally called for greater effort in relation to the challenges of taxation in the digital economy, taking full account of ongoing work in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The Commission intends to assess these issues further, in advance of the October 2013 European Council discussion on the digital agenda,' the Secretariat said earlier in May.
In the UK business secretary Vince Cable has already backed country-by-country reporting, saying 'I'm very sympathetic [to the idea of country-by-country reporting]. If something could come out of the G8 process leading into the OECD that would be very good. Then you would get a proper international agreement across the countries that matter. That would be a good forum in which to get some kind of agreement to establish good practice.'
