DAC6: EU Commission proposal for extension of reporting deadlines

UPDATE: It has been reported that Member States have informally agreed to allow a six month delay on reporting under DAC6. This would mean that notifiable cross-border arrangements whose first step was implemented between 25 June 2018 and 30 June 2020 would need to be reported by 28 February 2021 at the latest and the 30 day period for the reporting of notifiable cross-border arrangements from 1 July 2020 would only start from 1 January 2021. It is expected that Member States will formally approve the delay in mid-June.

On 8 May 2020, the European Commission has submitted a proposal to the European Council to amend the Directive 2011/16/EU to address the urgent need for deferring certain time limits for the filing and exchange of information in the field of taxation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The draft Directive proposes that:

• The reporting of cross border transactions the first step of which was implemented between 25 June 2018 to 30 June 2020 should be filed by 30 November 2020, instead of 31 August 2020.

• The period of 30 days for filing information on qualifying cross-border arrangements put in place between 1 July 2020 and 30 September 2020 shall begin by 1 October 2020 instead of 1 July 2020 as initially provided.

• The Commission further proposes to be empowered to extend the period of deferral for filing and exchanging information for a maximum of 3 additional months.

• The first information shall be communicated by the Member States by 31 January 2021.

These extensions aim to ensure an additional timeframe for Member States, taxpayers and intermediaries to prepare for their respective collecting and reporting obligations taking into account the severe disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This proposal is currently subject to discussions within the European Council.

As a reminder DAC6 has been implemented in Luxembourg with the law of 25 March 2020. For further details please refer to our publication released in March: Publication of the law implementing DAC6 in Luxembourg domestic law.