COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation establishing the 'Fiscalis' programme for cooperation in the field of taxation
Date: 2021-05-11
Institutions: Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, European tax cooperation, administrative cooperation, cross-border cooperation, single market, tax authorities, tax avoidance, tax law, tax offence

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 11.5.2021  COM(2021) 241 final 2018/0233 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation establishing the 'Fiscalis' programme for cooperation in the field of taxation  
 
2018/0233 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation establishing the 'Fiscalis' 
programme for cooperation in the field of taxation 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2018) 443 final – 2018/0233 COD): 

8 June 2018 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

17 October 2018 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

17 April 2019  

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N/A 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

10 May 2021 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

On  8  June  2018,  the  Commission  adopted  a  proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  establishing  the  'Fiscalis'  programme  for  cooperation  in  the 
field  of  taxation.  The  proposed  programme  continues  the  Fiscalis  2020  programme  and  its 
predecessors,  which  contributed  significantly  to  facilitating  and  enhancing  cooperation 
between  tax  authorities  within  the  Union.  The  new  programme  will  continue  to  support 
national 
including 
administrative cooperation. 

tax  authorities  and 

implementation  of 

tax  policy, 

improve 

the 

The EU objectives of fighting against tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance, improving tax 
fairness  and  transparency  as  well  as  supporting  the  functioning  of  the  internal  market  and 
competitiveness cannot be achieved by the Member States alone. 

In  this  regard,  common  rules,  coordination  and  cooperation  between  Member  States'  tax 
authorities  are  fundamental  in  order  to  achieve  these  objectives  and  face  all  related 
challenges. Such a high degree of cooperation and coordination can only be achieved with a 
centralised approach, ideally at Union level. 

The  Commission  proposal  aims  to  support  tax  policy  and  tax  authorities  in  increasing  tax 
transparency  and  enhancing  administrative  cooperation,  inter  alia,  through  exchange  of 
relevant  tax  information,  by  providing  means  and  financial  support  for  administrative  and 
information technology (IT) capacity building activities as well as operational cooperation. 

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The programme will concentrate the EU intervention on setting up efficient mechanisms (and 
the  indispensable  IT  tools)  for  administrative  cooperation,  aiming  at  providing  national  tax 
authorities with effective tools to fight against tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance. 

Within  the  framework  of  the  administrative  cooperation,  the  relevant  European  electronic 
systems, which enable Member States’ tax authorities to exchange information, are important 
features.  The  Fiscalis  programme  will  provide  Member  States  with  financial  and  technical 
support  for  those  electronic  systems,  in  the  framework  of  administrative  cooperation  in  the 
taxation area in the European Union. 

In  this  regard,  the  Commission  and  the  Member  States  will  ensure  that  the  European 
electronic  systems  referred  to  in  Chapter  IV  of  the  proposal  are  adequately  developed  and 
operated. They will regularly coordinate their respective interventions and agree on all aspects 
necessary  to  ensure  the  operability,  interconnectivity  and  continuous  improvement  of  the 
European electronic systems. 

A  major  part  of  the  proposed  budget  will  be  dedicated  to  IT  capacity  building  activities, 
although the proposed programme includes meetings and similar ad-hoc events, project-based 
structured  collaboration  and  human  competency  and  capacity  building  actions,  in  which 
Member  States  and  their  officials  may  participate  on  a  voluntary  basis.  The  overall  aim  of 
those  actions  is  to  enhance  administrative  cooperation  and  improve  the  administrative 
capacity of Member States in the area of taxation. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The position of the Council as adopted in the first reading fully reflects the agreement reached 
between  the  co-legislators  on  26  March  2021  (as  confirmed  on  30  March  2021).  The  main 
points of this agreement include the following: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

The  duration  of  the  programme  is  from  1  January  2021  until  31  December 
2027. 

The  general  objectives  of  the  programme  are:  supporting  tax  authorities  and 
taxation  to  enhance  the  functioning  of  the  internal  market;  fostering  Union 
competitiveness and fair competition in the Union; protecting the financial and 
economic  interests  of  the  Union  and  its  Member  States,  including  protecting 
those  interests  from  tax  fraud,  tax  evasion  and  tax  avoidance;  and  improving 
tax  collection.  The  specific  objectives  of  the  programme  are:  supporting  tax 
policy  and  the  implementation  of  Union  law  relating  to  taxation;  fostering 
cooperation  between  tax  authorities,  including  exchange  of  tax  information; 
and supporting administrative capacity building, including human competency 
and the development and operation of the European electronic systems. 

The financial envelope for the implementation of the Programme is EUR 269 
000 000 in current prices. 

The adoption of the work programmes by implementing acts and a shift from 
annual to multiannual work programmes, each covering no more than 3 years. 

The  importance  to  exploit  possible  synergies  with  other  Union  measures  in 
related  fields,  such  as  the  Customs  Programme,  the  Union  Anti-Fraud 
Programme,  the  Single  Market  Programme,  the  Recovery  and  Resilience 
Facility and the Technical Support Instrument. 

The acknoweldgement that the interim and final evaluations should address the 
remaining obstacles to the achievement of the objectives of the programme and 

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make  suggestions  for  best  practices.  As  part  of  the  performance  reporting 
system, annual progress reports should be issued to monitor the progress made 
and  include  a  summary  of  the  lessons  learnt  and,  where  appropriate,  of  the 
obstacles encountered. 

is  expected 

tax 
The  Commission 
administrations  with  representatives  of  beneficiary  Member  States  to  discuss 
issues  and  suggest  potential  improvements  related  to  the  objectives  of  the 
Programme, 
tax 
exchange  of 
administrations. 

information  between 

regular  seminars  of 

to  organise 

including 

the 

The  clarification  that  representatives  of  governmental  authorities  from  third 
countries  not  associated  to  the  programme  which  may  be  invited  as  external 
experts in actions organised under the programme may include representatives 
from least developed countries.  

A  non-exhaustive  list  of  priority  topics  to  be  addressed  by  specific  actions 
(Annex III). 

Retroactive application of the programme as of 1 January 2021. 

The  entry  into  force  of  the  Regulation  on  the  day  of  its  publication  and  its  
application from 1 January 2021. 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

The Council agreed to make a statement on transparency and on annual exchanges of views 
with  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Commission  on  the  lessons  learnt  from  the  Fiscalis 
programme. 

The Commission supports the agreement reached, which paves the way for a swift adoption of 
the new programme. The programme will continue to support Member States tax policy and 
tax authorities by providing means and financial coverage for administrative and information 
technology (IT) capacity building activities and operational cooperation. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission accepts the position taken by the Council, which fully reflects the agreement 
reached by the co-legislators on 26 March 2021 (as confirmed on 30 March 2021). 

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