EU tax information exchange framework will be "strengthened", Commissioner says

In a speech in Brussels, Algirdas Šemeta said that "community" action was needed to stop "fraudsters and evaders" abusing the Single Market for the purposes of avoiding tax. He said that the Commission would propose stronger measures "shortly".

"Up to now, I'm afraid that the appetite for full and unreserved coordination has been lacking amongst the Member States," he said. "And as a result, fraudsters and evaders have been able to use our Single Market as a playground for their activities. Moreover, Member States' inclination to put national tactics before the EU approach has diminished our collective impact on the international stage."

"We should not forget that the EU is a global forerunner in tax good governance. We've been ahead of the crowd on issues like automatic exchange of information and fair tax competition, so it is really a pity that we lacked the strong and coordinated stance to push these standards more forcefully at global level. This has to change – and I believe that it will," he said.

In his speech, Šemeta said that he "very much supported" the recent pilot information exchange created by five member states. The arrangement could "accelerate our collective move towards more automatic exchange of information and greater transparency", he said.

In April, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain agreed to automatically exchange the same information between themselves as with the US as part of their compliance with the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). This information includes names, addresses and dates of birth; account numbers and balances and details of payments made into those accounts. It also includes information on certain accounts held by entities, such as offshore trusts. All UK overseas territories with significant financial centres have also agreed to join the pilot.

In an interview with the Financial Times before the speech, Šemeta said that member states that have traditionally resisted calls to share financial information were "gradually moving into positive direction". He said that he was "confident" that Austria and Luxembourg would not block attempts to strengthen information exchange rules.

The Austrian Government has said that it is open to the exchange of data concerning non-resident taxpayers, including trusts and other offshore companies. Last month, Luxembourg announced that it would allow the automatic exchange of information currently required under the EU Savings Directive with other member states from 1 January 2015.