” The Action Plan proposes to improve the transfer pricing framework in the EU, so that it better reflects current economic realities and modern business models. Transparency and better access to comparable prices are two areas where work can already start (...) The measures in the Action Plan are very much aligned with the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) reforms, which is strongly supported by us. but are shaped to meet the EU's own particular challenges and needs”.
I quoted from the fact sheet in EC’s press release of 17 June 2015 on the Action plan for a fair and more efficient corporate tax system in the EU. An innocuous fact sheet to match an equally innocuous title. But this only lasts until we meet the flagship action of the Brussels strategists’ plan – the CCCTB.
CCCTB stands for the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base applicable to the EU-based companies.
However, the actual translation would sound more along the lines of – while BEPS seeks to tackle the abuse of tax incentives, CCCTB is going to do away with the issue by way of...doing away with tax incentives altogether! It is a seismic wave with a foreseeable impact to affect not just the taxation of IC transaction, but the very economies of the Member States.
This is intended as a wake-up call to prepare for a post-17.06.15 Europe!