Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the  ‘Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee — Tackling cross-border inheritance tax obstacles within the EU’ COM(2011) 864 final
Date: 2012-09-18
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: European tax cooperation, capital transfer tax, cross-border cooperation, double taxation, economic discrimination, inheritance, tax harmonisation








C_2012351EN.01004201.xml










15.11.2012   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 351/42





Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee — Tackling cross-border inheritance tax obstacles within the EU’
COM(2011) 864 final
2012/C 351/09
Rapporteur: Mr FARRUGIA

On 15 December 2011, the Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), on the

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee - Tackling cross-border inheritance tax obstacles within the EU

COM(2011) 864 final.
The Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 4 September 2012.
At its 483rd plenary session, held on 18 and 19 September 2012 (meeting of 18 September 2012), the European Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 135 votes to 1 with 11 abstentions.
1.   Conclusions and recommendations







1.1


EU citizens who inherit assets across national Member State borders are frequently faced with taxation in two or more different Member States (i.e. double or multiple taxation) and tax discrimination. These problems often impose undue hardship on citizens and hamper the achievement of the EU-2020 objectives. In an attempt to address these problems, the Commission presented a Communication in 2011 and an accompanying Recommendation.










1.2


The EESC is in favour of removing double/multiple and discriminatory taxation, and welcomes the approach adopted by the Commission which respects the tax sovereignty of individual Member States while calling for better interfacing of national tax systems.










1.3


It is however the opinion of the EESC that the Commission can be more effective in achieving the final aims of this exercise by:






—


proposing and implementing practical mechanisms which, within a reasonable period of time, would ensure the efficient interfacing of national tax systems with respect to inheritance taxes, while encouraging Member States to institute and operate double/multiple taxation relief mechanisms in a more effective and flexible manner;










—


using legislative mechanisms so as to effectively eliminate inheritance tax double/multiple taxation of EU citizens;










—


going beyond cross-border taxation issues to look into the potentially distortionary effects arising from differences in the computation of the inheritance tax base by different national tax jurisdictions, by setting common principles applicable across the EU which are based on fair net asset valuations and which safeguard the business entity unit as a going concern;










—


actively promoting more effective, efficient and citizen-friendly taxation systems, involving the least possible burden on taxpayers;










—


studying the issues which impinge on EU citizens arising out of global cross-border inheritance taxes;










—


studying the possibility of simplifying inheritance taxation in cross border situations through a system which imposes taxation once at a sole point of taxation determined by the location of the asset.














1.4


The EU Taxation Observatory, whose creation under the auspices of the Commission has been suggested in EESC opinions (1) dealing with multiple and discriminatory taxation, could serve as the instrument through which the above recommendations are implemented.




2.   Content and background of the proposal







2.1


EU citizens who inherit foreign property are frequently faced with a tax bill from more than one Member State (multiple taxation). Moreover, several Member States tax foreign inheritances more heavily than local inheritances (tax discrimination). In such cases, citizens may face undue hardship on the event of inheritance. In particular, small businesses may face transfer difficulties on the death of their owners.










2.2


Legal remedies are available to protect citizens against tax discrimination. These, however, are often not effective because of prohibitive costs. No legal remedies are available to protect citizens against multiple taxation, due to the rights of several Member States to claim taxation (2).










2.3


This is taking place within the context that the number of EU citizens moving from one country to another within the European Union increased by 3 million to 12.3 million between 2005 and 2010, and cross-border real estate ownership in the EU increased by up to 50 % between 2002 and 2010 (3). There is also a significantly increasing trend in cross-border portfolio investment. While citizens can be affected heavily by multiple or discriminatory inheritance taxation, EU Member States revenues from inheritances taxes account for less than 0.5 % of total tax receipts, with cross-border cases alone accounting for far less.










2.4


This situation is a serious obstacle to the freedom of movement of persons and capital within the Single Market, thereby hampering the achievement of the EU-2020 objectives. It is also in direct contrast with EU citizenship rights.










2.5


In an attempt to address these problems, the Communication and accompanying Recommendation issued by the Commission are intended to have the following effects:






—


cross-border inheritance tax problems may be resolved without any harmonisation of Member States' inheritance tax rules;










—


multiple taxation would be addressed through a more efficient interaction of national tax frameworks by a system of relief for tax paid in other countries to be applied by the different Member States that could claim taxing rights;










—


in the case of immovable property, the Member State where the asset is located would have first taxing rights and tax relief should be granted by other Member States involved;










—


in the case of movable assets connected with a permanent establishment in a Member State, that Member State would have first taxing rights and tax relief would be granted by other Member States in respect of tax burdens imposed in the first Member State;










—


the country of the deceased would have taxing rights in preference to the country of the heir which should give credit for tax paid in the country of the deceased;










—


tie breaker rules would determine to which country a deceased, or an heir, had closer links in cases where either had links with more than one country on the basis of his/her domicile, habitual residence and nationality;










—


cases of tax discrimination are addressed in a Commission Staff Working Paper (4) aimed at informing citizens and Member States on desirable features of non-discriminatory inheritance taxation through examples from case law, thereby better enabling them to avail of legal remedies.








3.   General comments







3.1


The EESC is in favour of addressing multiple and discriminatory taxation, so as to uphold citizens' rights and promote the Single Market. The EESC has stressed this through a number of its opinions and in particular recommends the removal of multiple and discriminatory taxation for citizens as well as the enhancement of administrative simplification in cross-border situations (5).










3.2


As a result, the EESC welcomes the Commission Communication on Cross Border Inheritance Tax Obstacles because the Communication:






—


recognises the problems which impinge especially on citizens and small business, but have a very limited dimension in terms of national fiscal performance;










—


suggests ways in which Member States would grant tax relief in cases of multiple taxation;










—


provides information which could be useful towards the elimination of tax discrimination.














3.3


The EESC furthermore welcomes the approach adopted in the Communication which respects the tax sovereignty of individual Member States and advises them to seek better interfacing of national tax systems while removing discriminatory taxation within national tax frameworks.




4.   Specific comments







4.1


It is however the opinion of the EESC that the Commission can be more effective in achieving the final aims of this exercise by:






—


evoking and enforcing legislative mechanisms so as to effectively eliminate inheritance tax discrimination between EU citizens, without this being considered as a violation of national sovereignty in tax matters, but merely as a fundamental tenet of EU citizenship rights to own assets across national borders;










—


proposing and implementing practical mechanisms which would ensure, within a reasonable period of time, the efficient interaction between national tax systems: the approach of merely providing recommendations for implementation by individual Members States may be viewed to be not sufficiently effective in practice – it is recognised that it is also desirable, as the Commission is proposing, for individual Member States to be encouraged, in an expeditious manner, to operate multiple taxation relief mechanisms in a more effective and flexible manner, while the Commission would observe developments over the next three years with a view of adopting a stronger stance through a Directive if so required;










—


in the longer term and from a wider perspective which goes beyond cross-border taxation issues, extending the scope of its intervention on inheritance taxation to the potentially distortionary effects arising from differences in the way in which different national tax jurisdictions compute the inheritance tax base, in a manner which respects national tax sovereignty, especially in relation to the setting of tax rates, but being subject to common principles underlying the manner in which inheritance tax bases would be considered across all EU Member States, which would ideally be based on fair principles of net asset valuations and would safeguard the business entity unit as a going concern;










—


studying the extent and implications of situations of multiple non-taxation through the use of sophisticated financial instruments, in respect of which the EESC looks forward to further consultations and initiatives by the Commission;










—


actively promoting more effective, efficient and citizen-friendly taxation systems, which are responsive in a timely and sensible manner especially within the often long and complicated procedures involved in inheritance tax issues, and which involve the least possible burdens on the taxpayers;










—


studying the extent to which EU citizens are being adversely affected by cross-border inheritance tax issues at a global level, the implications thereof and possible solutions thereto;










—


studying the possibility of introducing a simpler inheritance taxation method whereby taxation would be imposed only once at a sole point of taxation which would be determined according to the location of the asset.














4.2


The Commission could furthermore consider that the undertaking of these functions would form part of the mandate of an EU Taxation Observatory, whose formation under the auspices of the Commission has been suggested in EESC opinions dealing with multiple and discriminatory taxation (6). The Observatory would contribute to the more effective resolution of inheritance tax obstacles on an ongoing basis through research and investigations and provide fora for consultation, collaboration and agreement between different national tax jurisdictions.





Brussels, 18 September 2012


The President of the European Economic and Social Committee

Staffan NILSSON




(1)  Including EESC Opinion on a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base – OJ C 24, 28.1.2012, p. 63; EESC Opinion on Removing Cross Border Tax Obstacles for EU Citizens – OJ C 318, 29.10.2011, p. 95; EESC Opinion on Double Taxation in the Single Market – OJ C 181, 21.6.2012, p. 40.

(2)  The Block case (C-67/08).

(3)  Copenhagen Economics Study on Inheritance Taxes in EU Member States and Possible Mechanisms to Resolve problems of Double Inheritance Taxation in the EU, August 2010.

(4)  SEC(2011) 1488.

(5)  See footnote 1.

(6)  See footnote 1.