On 24 January, Insurance Europe issued a statement containing its conclusions on the European Commission´s proposed “BEFIT” (“Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation”) Directive.
Insurance Europe supports the initiative to introduce comprehensive and uniform tax rules in the European Union, also affirming that the harmonization of corporate taxation at EU level could potentially lead to reductions in administrative burdens and costs associated with complying with the varying tax systems of Member States.
However, it is stated by Insurance Europe that the insurance industry maintains that the proposed BEFIT directive should only be adopted if it would achieve an effective simplification and coherence of the European corporate tax framework.
Furthermore, Insurance Europe also expressed its concern on the fact that the proposed BEFIT directive may not achieve this goal, particularly in the context of the insurance industry, thus opposing to its current version.
The proposal of BEFIT directive is available here.