| Summary:
"Towards an Internal Market without tax obstacles - A strategy for providing companies with a consolidated corporate tax base for their EU-wide activities" - Brussels, 29 and 30 April 2002 |
Monday, 29 April 2002
Introduction - "THE NEED FOR CORPORATE TAX REFORM IN THE EU"
Keynote speeches
09.30 - 09.45 Frits BOLKESTEIN, Member of the European Commission
"Towards an Internal Market without tax obstacles" (SPEECH/02/187 )
09.45 - 10.00 Cristobal MONTORO ROMERO, Spanish Minister of Finance
10.00 - 10.15 Benedetto DELLA VEDOVA, MEP, Rapporteur of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee for the Commission Communication on Company Taxation (European Parliament)
10.15 - 10.30 Philippe DE BUCK, Secretary-General of the Union of Industrial and Employer's Confederations of Europe (UNICE)
10.30 - 10.45 Emilio GABAGLIO, Secretary-General of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
"The need for corporate tax reform in the EU"
Session 1 - "THE CHOICE OF THE APPROACH"
Panel discussion with
- Edward TROUP, Chair (International Fiscal Association)
"The Choice of Approach" - Hervé LE FLOC'H LOUBOUTIN (Director, French Ministry of Finance)
- Gerhard JUCHUM (Director General, German Ministry of Finance)
- Jan VAN DER BIJL (Chairman of the UNICE Fiscal Affairs Working Group)
Which form of corporate consolidated tax base would be preferable for EU companies? Should compulsory harmonisation be a priori excluded?
Which are the common issues and differences between a mutual recognition and a harmonisation approach?
Do all Member States need to participate? Is there a potential for "enhanced co-operation" for a group of Member States?
12.15 - 13.00 General discussion.
Session 2 - "THE MEANS FOR ACHIEVING A COMMON TAX BASE"
Panel discussion with
- Friedrich RÖDLER, Chair (Chairman of the Fiscal Committee, Confédération Fiscale Européenne)
- Vito TANZI (State-Secretary, Italian Ministry of Finance)
- Michael SHERRY (Chairman of the Tax Faculty, Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales)
- Jean-Pierre TIROUFLET (Association française des entreprises privées)
How to achieve the desired "common corporate base"?
Could a "core common base" be sufficient or do we need a "full common base"?
What is the link between the common tax base and accounting rules and what role can the International Accounting Standards play?
Should we devise a special tax regime for the European Company Statute?
16.00 - 17.15 General discussion
Tuesday, 30 April 2002
Session 3 - "THE WAY FORWARD: ORGANISING THE TRANSITION IN PRACTICE"
Panel discussion with
- Onno RUDING, Chair (President of the Centre for European Policy Studies - CEPS)
Contribution to the European Conference on Company Taxation - Gaston REINESCH ( Director-General , Luxembourg Ministry of Finance)
- Malcolm GAMMIE, QC (Barrister at the Chambers of Lord Grabiner)
- Alfons KÜHN (Eurochambres; Head of Tax Policy, German Chambers of Commerce / Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag)
Which are the priorities for the years ahead? How should the transition be organised in practice?
Should application by companies be optional or compulsory?
Is there a risk of competition or discrimination issues? How should these be addressed?
Should one start with a general implementation or progress via more limited pilot projects? Which specific role could small and medium-sized enterprises and SE companies play in this context?
Is formulary apportionment a way forward for the EU?
11.00 - 12.15 Final discussion
12.15 - 12.30 Closing remarks by M. Vanden Abeele, Director General Taxation and Customs Union
Papers contributed to the debate encompass:
Press releases IP/02/419 of 15/03/2002 and MEMO/02/84 of 30/04/2002.
Further contributions to the debate are welcome at taxud-company-taxation
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (taxud-company-taxation[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).