On Tuesday Malta joined other EU member states in unanimously agreeing to amend the EU’s tax information sharing law.
Through the amendment, called the Directive on Administrative Cooperation, intermediaries such as tax advisors, accountants and lawyers that create or promote tax planning schemes must report them to authorities if they are considered potentially aggressive.
EU members states will be required to automatically exchange any schemes reported through a centralised database.
Blacklist backlash
The backing of the amendment follows the release of the EU blacklist in December, which has drawn criticism for not including any EU states.
The non-inclusion of small island EU jurisdictions, in particular, has been heavily criticised by international organisations and other states as a key failing of the list.
Malta’s finance minister, Edward Scicluna, said the island takes exception to this criticism as it is fully compliant with EU tax rules and regulations.
“The introduction of The Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive I (Atad I) and Atad II, coupled with today’s unanimous agreement on the proposal for a directive to amend the Directive on Administrative Cooperation, is a further demonstration of our commitment to this cause,” Scicluna said.
