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.