CCCTB / Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base

EESC opinion: CCCTB / Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base

Key points:

 

The EESC supports the CCCTB because it:

  • reduces or even eliminates tax obstacles to cross-border activities within the EU,
  • leads to a significant reduction in tax compliance costs,
  • removes distortions in intra-EU competition caused by tax rules,
  • makes differences in effective tax rates more transparent.

 

Concerns exist about:

  • curtailed tax sovereignty and lower tax revenues,
  • lower flexibility and competitiveness in competing for FDI,
  • social and societal consequences.

 

The EESC notes that:

  • the CCCTB should be made revenue-neutral;
  • the offsetting of losses against profits in different Member States (or consolidation) is at the heart of the CCCTB rules;
  • it would endorse an optional arrangement during the introductory phase. In the long term the CCCTB should be made mandatory, at least above a certain threshold, for business operating across borders;
  • further clarification is needed with regard to individual rules;
  • considers the introduction of a one-stop shop for determining the tax base to be useful; ; the automatic communication of information should become the norm;
  • the European Commission should give further consideration to the proposed system of apportionment;
  • plans by two or more Member States to align the corporate tax base, by means of intergovernmental cooperation, must be designed in such a way that they do not create new hurdles for European harmonisation.