Fighting tax evasion and tax fraud was one of the two main themes at the European Council meeting on 22 May 2013. Tax evasion and tax fraud costs European countries €1 trillion a year in lost revenues. Therefore, European Commission is going to propose amendments to the directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation in June. The changes are intended to ease the cooperation between member states through automatic exchange of information to cover a full range of income.

EU leaders also aim to enhance the cooperation with non-EU partners through international initiatives within the G8, G20 or the OECD. Additionally, the Ecofin Council agreed to begin negotiations on taxation of savings income with Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and San Marino.

Other measures in the field of tackling aggressive tax planning and profit sharing, eliminating harmful tax practices, fighting money laundering are being prepared as a part of a massive initiative to improve taxation system of the EU.

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