Taxation

Companies generate growth, create jobs and foster prosperity for citizens. Paying taxes is only a fraction of their contribution to society and corporation tax is just a small part of the overall tax paid by businesses.

BusinessEurope supports a global adoption of the OECD/G20’s Two-Pillar Framework. It is critical that governments and businesses work together to ensure that these new tax rules on corporations are clear, transparent, objective and predictable. As the global tax landscape continues to evolve rapidly, it is key to ensure that the architecture of international taxation is improved to promote open markets and investment across borders.

Facts and figures

The majority of our member federations consider that compared to our global competitors, the EU investment environment is less attractive than 3 years ago due to the increase in wholesale gas prices, the burdensome regulatory environment and high taxes.
The competitiveness of tax regimes in the EU lags behind other regions. The average tax wedge on labour costs is about 30% higher in the EU than in the USA.
Foreign direct investment inflows to the EU has fallen by 68% in 2021 compared to 2019 (pre-Covid) whilst the USA saw a corresponding increase during the same period of 63%.

Source: BusinessEurope Reform Barometer

Publications

Position papers		Date
	Evaluation of the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive - BusinessEurope's comments in response to the call for evidence	11/09/2024
	Fitness Check on the Directive on Administrative Cooperation in the field of direct taxation - BusinessEurope’s response to the Call for Evidence for an Evaluation	17/07/2024
	Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation (BEFIT) - a BusinessEurope position paper	24/01/2024
	Proposal for a Directive on transfer pricing - a BusinessEurope position paper	22/12/2023
	Directive establishing a head office tax system for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - a BusinessEurope position paper	14/12/2023
	VAT in the Digital Age - BusinessEurope’s comments in response to the public consultation	03/04/2023
	Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation (BEFIT) - BusinessEurope’s comments in response to the public consultation	25/01/2023
	Debt-equity bias reduction allowance (DEBRA) - a BusinessEurope position paper	13/10/2022
	New EU system for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax abuse in the field of withholding taxes - BusinessEurope reply to the public consultation	24/06/2022
	Unshell - Laying down rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes - a BusinessEurope position paper	12/05/2022
	VAT in the digital age – BusinessEurope reply to the public consultation	03/05/2022
	Directive on ensuring a minimum level of taxation for multinational groups within the European Union (‘Pillar Two’) - a BusinessEurope position paper	02/02/2022
	Debt-Equity Bias Reduction Allowance (DEBRA) - BusinessEurope reply to the public consultation	06/10/2021
	Cross-border resolution of tax disputes for SMEs: a European framework - BusinessEurope reply to the European Commission survey	07/09/2021
	Fighting the use of shell entities and arrangements for tax purposes - BusinessEurope's reply to the public consultation	24/08/2021
	Improving the situation of EU citizens as taxpayers for indirect tax - BusinessEurope reply to the public consultation	01/06/2021
	Review of VAT rules for financial and insurance services - BusinessEurope reply to the public consultation	21/04/2021
	EU digital levy - BusinessEurope reply to the public consultation	15/03/2021
	OECD reports on the Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 blueprints - BusinessEurope's reply to the public consultation	09/12/2020
	Revision of the energy taxation directive - BusinessEurope's reply to the public consultation	13/10/2020
	Special VAT scheme for travel agents and tour operators - BusinessEurope's reply to the public consultation	09/09/2020
	Strengthen the Exchange of Information Framework in the Field of Taxation - BusinessEurope's reply to the public consultation	23/03/2020
	Comments on the OECD Public Consultation on the Global Anti-Base Erosion Proposal (GloBE) under Pillar 2	02/12/2019
	Proposal for a unified approach under OECD Pillar 1 - BusinessEurope’s reply to the public consultation	08/11/2019
	Introducing certain requirements for payment service providers - BusinessEurope position paper on the European Commission directive	03/06/2019
	Addressing the tax challenges of the digitalisation of the economy - BusinessEurope response to the OECD public consultation	06/03/2019
	Definitive VAT system for cross-border trade	14/12/2018
	Taxation of the digital economy - a BusinessEurope position paper	13/07/2018
	Evaluation of the EU framework for taxation of energy products and electricity - BusinessEurope's reply to the public consultation	04/06/2018
	Proposed amendment to VAT treatment of SMEs	20/03/2018
	Fair taxation of the digital economy - BusinessEurope's reply to the public consultation	21/12/2017
	Generalised reverse charge mechanism - a BusinessEurope position paper	28/03/2017
	Modernising VAT for cross-border e-commerce - a BusinessEurope position paper	28/03/2017
	Special scheme for small enterprises under the VAT directive - BusinessEurope's reply to the public consultation	20/03/2017
	Definitive VAT system for business-to-business (B2B) intra-EU transactions on goods - BusinessEurope's reply to the public consultation	20/03/2017
	Double taxation dispute resolution mechanism - a BusinessEurope position paper	22/02/2017
	Common corporate tax base (CCTB) and common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) - a BusinessEurope position paper	22/02/2017
	Disincentives for advisors and intermediaries for potentially aggressive tax planning schemes - BusinessEurope's reply to the open public consultation	15/02/2017

Public letters		Date
	Proposed revisions to the Energy Taxation Directive - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Vincent Van Peteghem	28/02/2024
	VAT digital reporting: an urgent need for a common framework - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Vincent Van Peteghem	10/01/2024
	The EU corporate tax reform - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Paolo Gentiloni	03/07/2023
	Component Taxation in the Energy Tax Directive recast - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Elizabeth Svantesson, Minister for Finance of Sweden	01/03/2023
	Global minimum tax - EU's Pillar Two Directive - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Zbynĕk Stanjura	28/11/2022
	Proposal for Securing the Activity Framework of Enablers (SAFE) - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Gerassimos Thomas, Director General DG TAXUD	27/10/2022
	Extraordinary tax measures - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Zbynĕk Stanjura	31/08/2022
	The carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and minimum corporate tax - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Bruno Lemaire ahead of the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers meeting on 15 March 2022	10/03/2022
	EU implementation of OECD corporate tax reforms - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Paolo Gentiloni	30/11/2021
	European Commission proposal for a digital levy - Letter to Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission	07/07/2021
	Interinstitutional negotiations on public country-by-country reporting (Public CbCR) - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer	23/03/2021
	Interest limitation rule - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to European Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni	12/06/2020
	Directive on administrative cooperation (DAC6) - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to EU Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni	27/04/2020
	Explanatory notes on VAT quick fixes - Letter from James Watson to Maria Elena Scoppio	07/10/2019
	VAT Treatment of Vouchers - Letter from James Watson to Maria Teresa Fabregas-Fernandez, Director of Indirect Taxation and Tax Administration, Directorate-General: Taxation and Customs Union	16/05/2019
	Dispute resolution and avoidance mechanisms - Letter from James Watson to Martin Kreienbaum, Chair of the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs	13/12/2018
	Digital taxation - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to President of the ECOFIN-Council Hartwig Löger	30/11/2018
	Digital taxation - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis	04/12/2017
	BEPS Action 7: additional guidance on the attribution of profits to permanent establishments - BusinessEurope position on the public discussion draft	06/11/2017
	BEPS Action 10: revised guidance on profit splits - BusinessEurope position on the public discussion draft	06/11/2017
	Public country-by-country reporting - Letter from Markus J. Beyrer to Roberto Gualtieri, Chair of the EP ECON Committee	30/03/2017

Press releases		Date
	BEFIT Tax Package: Business community urges caution and global alignment	25/01/2024
	BusinessEurope reacts to proposed EU Framework for Income Taxation	12/09/2023
	EU own resources plans must not add burden on business	22/12/2021
	Corporate tax should support growth and investment	18/05/2021
	Digital taxation should be based on OECD agreement	21/03/2018
	EU Commission VAT proposals can lead to less complexity, less fragmentation, less tax fraud and evasion	04/10/2017
	Tax systems must support the take-up of digital technologies in Europe	21/09/2017
	Sailing the wind of economic improvements to further strengthen Europe	13/09/2017