Accountants reject EU tax harmonisation

Most accountants would reject moves towards tax harmonisation by the European Union, but believe it will happen regardless, according to Association of Chartered Certified Accountants findings released today.

Written by By Alex Miller

Accountancy Age, 19 Nov 2001

The institute had asked its members for their views on EU tax harmonisation, with 57% of members voting against any moves, with 43% in favour.

When asked whether they believed that EU tax harmonisation would occur regardless, 61% said it would.

Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at ACCA, said: 'There are still certain member countries which are committed to high taxation and would like to see the same tax requirement in neighbouring states.'

He added: 'Rather than harmonisation, which is clearly unpopular, the Commission should focus on remedying problem areas in existing national tax regimes, especially in the areas affecting small businesses, which still face problems in recovering intra-EU VAT, and the current impasse on how to deal with VAT on internet downloadable services.'

Links

For and Against : Time for a clean sheet on VAT.

EC's hand forced on single tobacco tax

EU corporation tax on the cards