ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (78)177
Vol.1978/0058

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concernant l'ouverture aupublic desarchives historiques delaCommunauté économique
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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(78)177final
i N
Brussels,28April1978
Proposalfora
COUNCILDIRECTIVE
amendingtheDirective77/799/EECconcerningmutualassistance
bythecompetentauthorities oftheMemberStates
inthefieldofdirecttaxation V
(submittedtotheCouncil "bytheCommission)
COM(78)177final

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
On10February1975(1),theCounciladoptedaresolution onthe
measurestobetakenbytheCommunityasregardstaxesonincomeorprofitsin
ordertocombatinternational taxevasionandavoidance.
On19December1977,theCounciltookitsfirstpracticalstepinthis
directionbyadoptingaDirectiveconcerningmutualassistance bythecompetent
authorities oftheMemberStatesinthefieldofdirecttaxation (2).
Thecaseforadoptionofthismeasureisalsosoundinrespectof
indirecttaxesingeneral.However,anuiriberoffactorssuggestthatCommunity
actionwithregardtoVATisaparticularly urgentneed.
Foronething,theinformation receivedbytheCommission fromthe
MemberStatesshowsthatthereismuchillegalpracticeinvolvingthistaxininter'
nationaltrade,includingfraudulentimportation andtheuseoffalseexport
invoices.
1.
Secondly,theimplementation ofcertainprovisionsofthe.sixthVAT
Directive (77/388/EEC),particularly thoseconcerningthelocationofthesupply
ofservices(Articles9and26)andtaxdeductionfortransactions effectedabroad
(Article17(4)),makesithighlydesirablethatthereshouldbeclosecooperation
betweennationaltaxadministrations inordertoensurethatVATisproperly
chargedandthatallcasesofnon-taxation ordoubletaxationareavoided.
(1)OJN°C35of14.2.1975,p.1
(2)OJN°L336of27.12.1977,p.15
m

-ά-
BecauseapartoftheCommunityownresourcesistoaccruefrom
VAT,fraudorthenon-colLectionofthistaxmayentaillossesnotonlyforthe
budgetsofMemberStates,butalsofortheCommunitybudget,sothatthedrive
toeliminateevasionandavoidanceinthisfieldwillinfutureconstitute a
directCommunityinterest.
Thirdly,closercooperation betweennationalauthorities withregard
coVATwillmakeiteasier,bymeansofthecross-checks itwillallow,toassess
taxesonincomeandprofitsaccurately.Suchcooperationwillthereforebean
extremelyusefuladditiontothemutualassistanceprocedurealreadyadoptedby
theCouncilwithregardtodirecttaxes.
Aschemeformutualassistance betweenthetaxadministrations ofthe
MemberStatesintheVATfieldis,fortheabovereasons,clearlyneededwithout
delay.Forthispurpose,certaintechnicalchangestothearrangements ofthe
Directiveof19December1977ohdirecttaxes,areallthatisnecessary.

Proposal foraCouncil Directive amending theDirective 77/799/EECconcerning
mutual assistance "bythe competent authorities oftheMember States inthe
field ofdirect taxation
THECOUNCIL OPTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,
Having regard totheTreaty establishing theEuropean Economic Community ,and
inparticular Article 100thereof ,
Having regard totheproposal from theCommission ,
Having regard totheopinion oftheEuropean Parliament ,
Having regard totheopinion oftheEconomic andSocial Committee ,
Whereas ,asarule ,practices oftaxevasion andtaxavoidance lead to budget-
losses andviolations oftheprinciple offair taxation ,andjeopardize sound
competition ,thereby affecting theoperation ofthecommon market ;
Whereas ,inorder tocombat these practices more effectively ,cooperation between
taxadministrations within theComrunity should bestrengthened inaccordance
with common principles andrules ;
Whereas ,on19December 1977 ,theCouncil adopted Directive 77/799/SECconcerning
mutual assistance bythe competent authorities oftheMember States inthefield
1ofdirect taxation ;whereas such mutual assistance arrangements should also cover -
indirect taxes ,notonly inorder toensure that these arecorrectly assessed and
collected ,butalso inorder tomake themeasures taken with regard todirect
taxes more effective ;
Whereas ,asamatter ofparticular urgency ,mutual assistance must beextended to
cover VAT ,both because itisageneral taxonconsumption and "because itplays an
important part intheCommunity 'sownresources ;
0JNoL336 .27.12.1977 ,p.15

WhereastheprovisionsofDirective77/799/EECarealsosuitableforVAT,
subjecttocertainamendmentsandadditions;whereasitistherefore
appropriatetoextendthescopeofthisDirective,
I
KASADOPTEDTHISDIRECTIVE î
Article 1
Directive77/799/EECisherebyamendedasfollows:
1.Thetitleshallread:"CouncilDirectiveof19December1977concerning
mutualassistancebythecompetentauthorities oftheMemberStatesinthefields
ofdirecttaxationandvalueaddedtax".
2.InArticle1,
(a)thefollowingwordsareaddedattheendofparagraph1s
"...andofvalueaddedtax."
(b)asregardstheUnitedKingdom,thefollowingalterationismadein
paragraph5:
"intheUnitedKingdom:TheCommissioners ofInlandRevenueandof
CustomsandExciseoranauthorizedrepresentative ."
3.Thefollowingsubparagraph (f)isaddedtoArticle4(1)s
"(f)asregardsvalueaddedtax,thecompetentauthorityoftheone
MemberStatehasgroundsforsupposingthatinthecontextofintra-
Communitytransactions VATdueisbeingreducedorunjustifiably
refundedorthatfiscalprovisionsarenotbeingappliedinthe
otherMemberState."
Article2
ThisDirectiveisaddressedtotheMemberStates.