The EU never sends mixed messages when it comes to aggressive tax planning, which is often achieved through transfer pricing.

If you need proof that transfer pricing is high priority in the Netherlands, consider the new guidance issued by the Dutch Ministry of Finance on July 1.

Have intercompany transactions in Cyprus? Expect more documentation requirements. In an anti-BEPS-embracing effort, on June 30, the Cyprus parliament approved new transfer pricing requirements.

Transfer pricing requirements are getting tougher in Hungary. On June 21, a new bill, complementing the 2023 budget, went to parliament.

Since the OECD incorporated a chapter about financial transactions into the 2022 edition of the OECD’s transfer pricing guidelines, global tax authorities have taken the hint, incorporating guidance on related-party loans into legislation.

If the EU wasn’t struggling enough to get unanimous vote on the global minimum tax, it looks like there is another uphill battle ahead: Turning the anti-shell-company proposal into law.

In the EU, Pillar Two has seen its fair share of challenges (Poland, Estonia), but it has one thing going for it: France.

“Tax transparency” may seem like just another industry buzz phrase, but here’s the thing: The premise works.

The EU makes no secret about the way it feels about shell companies. In fact, in December it proposed a law that would slap shell companies with more compliance burdens and deny them tax breaks and benefits.

Introducing new tax laws in the EU requires the unanimous backing of all members states—and in terms of the OECD’s’ global minimum tax proposal, a few have been playing hard to get.