The European Commission has signalled it is ready to step up efforts to tackle tax avoidance.
This week, commissioners set out steps for curbing what they described as “aggressive tax planning”, which it is estimated costs EU members billions of Euros in revenue every year.
One of the key proposals would encourage the tax authorities of different countries to share information on multi-national companies among themselves, an idea which has already been discussed at a number of international conferences.
The officials who have drawn up the package of reforms have acknowledged that many multinational companies have learned to hide away money in tax havens or exploit loopholes in the law to effectively play countries off against one another.
The plans outlined by Brussels come at a time of renewed controversy over corporate tax arrangements, with the UK government still trying to cope with the fallout from the £130million deal that HMRC has struck with Google.
Pierre Moscovici, the commissioner for economic and financial affairs, taxation and custom, said that the time had come for a more co-ordinated approach between member states.
“[The money lost to tax avoidance] could be used for public services like schools and hospitals or to boost jobs and growth,” he said.
“Europeans and businesses that play fair end up paying higher taxes as a result. This is unacceptable and we are acting to tackle it.”