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9am Lowdown: EC plans reporting overhaul

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21st Sep 2016
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Good morning and welcome to the 9am Lowdown, which features an EC overhaul of company reporting, the latest on the Google tax and a setback for RBS.

 

EC plans company reporting overhaul

The European Commission is set to launch a new tax avoidance crackdown by bringing back a long-stalled plan to overhaul how companies report profits.

According to The Guardian companies will have to calculate their profits under common European rules rather than national ones, making it impossible to publish creative cross-border accountants.

Tax policy official Pierre Moscovici said public outrage about companies paying very low rates of tax was helping the idea gain momentum.

The draft law, known as the common consolidated corporate tax base, is expected to be published in late October or early November.

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Google tax targets 100 large companies

Up to 100 large companies are being targeted by a new tax aimed at multinationals that go to great lengths to avoid paying money to HMRC.

The scope of the Google tax, or diverted profits tax, which targets contrived arrangements that shift profits to lower tax countries, had taken some large companies by surprise, according to HMRC.

Jim Harra, director-general of business tax, told the Financial Times: “There has been a significant reduction in appetite on the part of big business from engaging in avoidance and aggressive boundary pushing… But we won’t necessarily see a reduction in the amount of tax in dispute.”

Changes being introduced as part of a crackdown on base erosion and profit shifting were also likely to cause disputes.

Harra added: “We are entering a period of uncertainty about where the boundaries are… Inevitably with those changes there is more scope for dispute.”

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Setback for RBS in branches sale

A Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) plan to sell more than 300 branches is in trouble after one of the most promising bidders pulled out of talks.

The BBC reports that talks with front runner Santander “broke down” because the two sides could not agree a price.

Back in 2008 RBS was given until 2017 to sell the branches as part of its bailout.

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By pacta
21st Sep 2016 13:55

Thank god for Brexit.

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