There is an assumption here of some big political-administrative-corporate nexus here.

It is not how it works.

The government sets tax policy, and leaves it to Revenue to implement it.

No one can give Revenue a call (not the Minister, not the head of the IDA) and be told how much any firm pays in tax.

This is not how it works in many countries, but Ireland but taxpayer confidentiality is taken incredibly seriously at all levels in Revenue.

If you really think that is how things work here, you are being naive.

No one can give Revenue a call (not the Minister, not the head of the IDA) and be told how much any firm pays in tax.

This is not how it works in many countries, but Ireland but taxpayer confidentiality is taken incredibly seriously at all levels in Revenue.

Germany’s two major parties have different visions for Germany’s domestic tax policy: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, want no tax hikes. The center-left Social Democrats do.

But the two parties who are heading into Sept. 24 elections agree when it comes to Germany’s role in combating VAT non-compliance vis-a-vis international cooperation. Attorneys, tax advisers and lawmakers told Bloomberg BNA that the parties likely will reunite in a repeat of the so-called Grand Coalition that has governed Germany for eight of the past 12 years because neither is predicted to receive an outright majority.

While some are disappointed with the lack of innovation at the domestic level that could potentially expedite an international crackdown on shady e-commerce practices, others say that staying the course during the next legislative period and working transnationally to combat tax evasion is a radical move in and of itself

there is more

Online retailers such as Amazon could come under tighter scrutiny and be forced to collect VAT from companies whose items they sell, according to new changes that EU member states made to a draft bill.

E-commerce platforms could face new regulations that would make them legally responsible if they sell products from companies that do not pay value-added tax. A majority of diplomats from EU countries have already backed changes to the bill, according to a working document obtained by EURACTIV.com.
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Amazon has warehouses in Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Poland and the UK.

The European Commission did not include new liability rules to apply to online platforms when it proposed the VAT overhaul in December 2016. All member states, the European Parliament and the Commission must agree on the bill before it can go into effect.
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Other industry sources suggested that online retailers that are based outside the EU and do not have warehouses in the bloc could be given an advantage under the proposed rules. They might be able to ship items to an address in a member state but will not be held liable for collecting VAT on behalf of the companies that made the product.

Online shopping is becoming more common in the EU. 55% of shoppers aged 16-74 had shopped online in the last year, according to 2016 Eurostat figures. 89% of those shoppers bought from retailers in their home member state, while 20% purchased from sellers outside the EU.

there is more

The European Commission has greenlit a long-gestating French draft measure to have foreign streaming services such as Netflix and video-sharing websites such as YouTube that distribute content in France but are not fiscally established there pay a 2% tax to France’s National Film Board.

Upon receiving the European Commission’s approval, the French government signed a decree Thursday to enforce the new measure. The 2% tax will be levied on revenues made in France from subscriptions, in the case of Netflix, and from advertising, in the case of YouTube.

The money will be used by the film board, known as the CNC, to help finance French original content, from movies to TV series, video games and digital programs, via subsidies. The CNC expects to receive 2 million euros ($2.4 million) from Netflix and 2.5 million euros ($3 million) from YouTube, according to a source at the organization.

there is more

shock to the State’s corporation tax base, which generated a record €8 billion last year, is more or less inevitable, economist Seamus Coffey has warned.

He said receipts from the business tax were likely to fall at some point in the future because they were “inherently” volatile and highly concentrated around a small number of firms.

Ireland is the biggest “tax haven” in the world used by multinationals to shelter profits, according to a new study by economists from the United States and Denmark.

The research from academics at the University California, Berkeley and the University of Copenhagen estimates that foreign multinationals shifted $106 billion (€90 billion) of corporate profits to Ireland in 2015.

This was more than all of the islands of the Caribbean combined ($97 billion/€83 billion), and well ahead of Singapore ($70 billion/€60 billion), Switzerland ($58 billion/€49 billion) and the Netherlands ($57 billion/€48 billion), according to the researchers.

Afilias, a Dublin-headquartered company that manages hundreds of millions of internet addresses, is to relocate to Pennsylvania due to “favourable” tax changes recently introduced by US president Donald Trump.

He signed the overhaul of the US tax regime into law on December 22nd, cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 per ent to 21 per cent.

Earlier this year it was reported that Apple was pulling back on its investments in the corporate bond market as it prepares to repatriate billions of dollars in overseas cash under the Trump tax cuts. However, Afilias, is the first known company headquartered in Ireland to relocate on the back of the tax changes.

New EU corporate tax avoidance measures to take effect
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