Assessing tax reporting obligations in the EU

The European Economic and Social Committee has adopted an own-initiative opinion examining the impact of tax reporting obligations across the EU. With a focus on simplification, legal coherence, and digitalisation, the opinion supports the European Commission’s drive to reduce administrative burdens and increase clarity in tax legislation, thus enhancing the competitiveness of the European economy and the effectiveness of EU tax systems. The EESC highlights the need for consistent definitions, proportional rules, and better use of shared information by tax authorities.

Key points

The opinion recommends:

• Simplifying and harmonising EU tax implementation of directives to reduce complexity, duplication, and legal uncertainty.
• Conducting impact and competitiveness assessments—especially for SMEs—for all new tax proposals.
• Establishing an EU court system of Advance tax rulings for interpreting complex tax directives. The ECJ would be the appellate body if a taxpayer or a tax administration challenge the ruling.
• Creating a new Joint Transfer Pricing Forum with rulemaking capacity.
• Launching EU portals for cross-border workers to report teleworking days and for investors to reclaim withholding tax on foreign dividends.
• Improving the use of information from DAC directives and reinforcing digital tools for tax compliance and data management.

Additional information

EESC section: Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion (ECO)

Opinion type: Own-initiative opinion

Rapporteur: Krister ANDERSSON (Employers – GR I, Sweden)

Reference: ECO/664-EESC-2025

Date of adoption by section: 5/6/2025

Date of adoption in plenary: 18-19/06/2025

Contact

Thomas Kersten

Press Officer

Tel.: +32 (0)2 546 8931

Email: thomas.kersten@eesc.europa.eu

Jüri Soosaar

Policy Officer

Tel.: +32 (0)2 546 9628

Email: eco@eesc.europa.eu