The CFE has published an Opinion Statement PAC 2/2018 on the European Parliament Recommendations to the Council and Commission following the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion of 13 December 2017.
It encompasses the following remarks:
- CFE highlights that the vast majority of tax advisers help individuals, SMEs and large businesses to get their complex tax affairs right. By making complex tax systems work, tax advisers contribute to the fight against tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance;
- CFE supports simplification of tax laws and drafting of high quality tax legislation as a means of addressing the sources of tax uncertainty and increased tax transparency;
- CFE advocates consolidation of taxpayers’ rights and obligations through the establishment of binding legal instruments, e.g. Taxpayers’ Charters;
- CFE disagrees with ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach in the context of regulation of the tax advisory profession;
- CFE welcomes a debate on the role of the anti-money laundering oversight bodies, taking into account the diverse scope of the tax advisers’ AML supervisory regime;
- CFE has doubts about the merits of the argument for the separation of accounting firms, with a management of conflicts of interest as a more sensible approach;
- Tax advisers working under the CFE umbrella stand ready to participate in open debate on improving tax good governance, enhanced tax certainty and binding instruments for protection of taxpayers’ rights.