欧洲税务顾问（ETAF）建议在EU全球最低税指令中引入“日落条款”（附反馈中英对照）
编译整理：思迈特财税国际税收服务团队
01正文
3月18日，欧洲税务顾问联合会（ETAF）在向欧盟委员会发出的反馈声明（详见附件）中说：全球最低税率改革的成功在很大程度上取决于全球范围内的实施情况。为避免欧盟执行支柱二，但像美国这样的辖区不执行的情况（尽管美国签署了双支柱方案，但美国将继续执行其GLITI制度，而不会将支柱二转化为国内法，且3月15日OECD发布的支柱二GLoBE立法模板评注及其示例中，并未就支柱二与美国GLITI制度如何共存进行明确），ETAF认为支柱二中可以考虑引入一种“日落条款”，以确保如果欧盟的大量大型国际伙伴不遵守该协议，该协议将自动停止适用。
“日落条款”经常在欧盟法律中使用，例如关于法律文本具体条款的适用。“日落条款”可以是有条件的，也可以有固定的到期日期。2018年9月，欧盟财长在讨论数字服务税时，法国财政部长布鲁诺·勒迈尔提议在拟议的指令中增加“日落条款”，以便一旦OECD层面作出决定，OECD的解决方案将取代欧洲解决方案。
关于支柱二的执行情况提出的另一个问题是时间表和OECD仍在微调一些规则的事实。ETAF敦促欧盟在最后确定《EU实施支柱二最低税指令草案》（以下简称“指令”）之前考虑OECD的剩余工作，因为对指令的所有修改都需要欧盟成员国的一致同意。因此，ETAF对拟议指令中的一项条款表示关注，该条款称成员国在实施指令时应使用OECD评注和实施框架作为“说明或解释的来源”，这些详细规则应直接纳入指令，而且将这些规则引入国内立法的选择不应留给成员国自行决定。
欧盟理事会主席国法国提出的折衷提案增加了一条关于安全港的条款，称如果位于该辖区的成员实体的有效税收水平符合合格的国际安全港协议的条件，则该辖区的集团应缴纳的补足税在一个财度应视为零。国际社会尚未设计这些条件，但折衷提案不允许委员会提出实施法案以引入和协调这些安全港条件的可能性。委员会只有权提出一项旨在给予第三国同等地位的执行法案。
税收是一个永恒演变的问题，税务顾问应该对任何未来的发展持开放态度并做好准备，包括降低门槛和将新规则应用于小公司的事件。
ETAF表示，对3月15日举行的欧盟财长之间关于支柱二指令的最后一次辩论表示担忧：我们希望一些成员国在讨论期间表达的担忧不会以某种方式导致在欧盟层面重新谈判已经在OECD层面谈判和商定的内容。
ETAF认为：关于波兰要求在执行支柱一和支柱二之间建立具有法律约束力的联系，从我们的角度来看，可以假定这种方法只会导致拖延有效执行支柱二。
02附件
ETAF’s feedback on the Implementing Directive for Pillar II
ETAF对实施支柱二指令的反馈
Introduction
引言
On 22 December 2021, the EU became the firstjurisdiction to start the legislative process for the transposition of theso-called Pillar II of the OECD agreement to reform the international taxsystem, i.e. the minimum 15% effective tax rate for large multinational enterprises (MNE).
2021年12月22日，欧盟成为第一个启动“OECD协定”支柱二“国际税收体系改革”立法程序的辖区，即大型跨国企业（MNE）的最低有效税率15%。
Right after its publication, the European Tax Adviser Federation (ETAF)welcomed the proposal for an Implementing Directive, bringing the EU one step closer to fair taxation, and largely seesit as a genuine “tax revolution”.
欧洲税务顾问联合会（ETAF）在其指令发布后立即对实施指令的提议表示欢迎，这使欧盟更接近公平税收，并在很大程度上将其视为一场真正的“税收革命”。
The proposed rules will apply to any large group,both domestic and international, which meets the annual threshold of more than €750 million of consolidated revenues in at least two of the four preceding years, and with either a parent company or a subsidiary situated inan EU Member State.
拟议规则将适用于任何大型集团，包括国内和国际集团，其在过去四年中至少有两年达到合并收入超过7.5亿欧元的年度门槛，且母公司或子公司位于欧盟成员国。
Only a grip of ETAF members will have to implement the new rules for their clients meeting the threshold. Indeed, 98% of ourmembers typically represent SMEs. However, as ETAF represents the voice at EU level of 215 000 regulated tax advisers from France, Germany, Belgium, Romania,Hungary and Austria, it seemed crucial and relevant to present our general view on the proposal.
只有少数ETAF成员需要为达到门槛的客户实施新规则。事实上，98%的会员通常代表中小企业。然而，由于ETAF代表着来自法国、德国、比利时、罗马尼亚、匈牙利和奥地利的215000名受监管税务顾问在欧盟层面上的声音，因此，提出我们对该提案的总体看法似乎至关重要且相关。
Taxation is a matter of perpetual evolution and tax advisers should be open and prepared to any future development, including alowering of the threshold and the event of an application of the new rules tosmaller companies.
税收是一个永恒演变的问题，税务顾问应该对未来的任何发展持开放态度并做好准备，包括降低门槛以及将新规则应用于小公司的事件。
This is all the more true as the OECD statement on a two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy leaves the possibility to participant countriesto apply the tax rules to MNEs headquartered in their country even if they do not meet the threshold. Recent media reports have shown that, during the negotiations, some Member States have indeed expressed their interest to keep this possibility open.
由于经合组织关于应对经济数字化带来的税收挑战的双支柱解决方案的声明，使得参与国有可能对总部设在本国的跨国公司适用税收规则，即使它们不符合门槛。最近的媒体报道表明，在谈判期间，一些成员国确实表示有兴趣保持这种可能性。
I. Uniform implementation at EU and OECD levels
I.在欧盟和OECD层面的统一执行
ETAF members largely agree that a Directive is desirable to implement in a consistent and coordinated way the rules resulting from the OECD agreement within the EU. This is all the more welcomed if it ensures that ‘gold plating’ in Member States is avoided and can reduce uncertainties and administrative burden for companies.
ETAF成员基本上同意，一项指令有利于在欧盟内部以一致和协调的方式实施OECD协议产生的规则。如果它能确保避免成员国的“镀金”，并能减少不确定性和公司的征管负担，这一点就更受欢迎。
The Directive follows the OECD model rules but expands the rules in the EU to domestic profits and to purely domestic companies that pass the threshold of €750 million turnover. According to the Commission, this addition is necessary to avoid any risk of legal controversy in the EU due to a difference in treatment between cross-border and domesticsituations, which would be against the Freedom of establishment enshrined in EU Treaties.
该指令遵循经合组织的立法模板，但欧盟规则扩展到国内利润和超过7.5亿欧元营业额门槛的纯国内公司。根据欧盟委员会的说法，这一增加是必要的，以避免由于跨境和国内情况之间的待遇差异而在欧盟产生任何法律争议的风险，这将违反欧盟条约中规定的建立自由。
As a large majority of MNEs operate cross-border, we do not expect any significant expansion of the number of MNEs falling under the scope of the Directive. Moreover, the intentions of EU Member States to opt to apply a qualified domestic top-up tax to low-taxed constituent entities located on their territory are not yet known.
由于绝大多数跨国公司都是跨境经营的，我们预计该指令范围内的跨国公司数量不会大幅增加。此外，欧盟成员国选择对位于其领土上的低税成员实体征收合格国内补足税的意图尚不得而知。
While ETAF members generally believe that this departure from the OECD model rules is justified,they unanimously agree that, for the rest, the EU should strictly stick to the OECD model rules.
虽然ETAF成员国普遍认为，这种偏离OECD立法模板的做法是合理的，但他们一致同意，对于其他国家，欧盟应严格遵守OECD立法模板。
In that regard, we see with some concerns the last debate between the EU Finance Ministers on the Directive, which took place on 15 March 2022. We hope the worries expressed by some Member States during the discussion will not lead some how to are negotiation at EU level of what has already been negotiated and agreed at the OECD level.
在这方面，我们关切地看到，欧盟财政部长之间关于该指令的最后一次辩论发生在2022年3月15日。我们希望，一些成员国在讨论中表达的担忧不会以某种方式导致在欧盟层面重新谈判经合组织层面已经谈判和商定的内容。
We especially seewith a sceptical eye the continued demand of Poland to add legal safeguards in the text to link the implementation of Pillar II to the implementation of Pillar I (reallocation of taxing rights) of the OECD agreement. From our point of view, it can be assumed that such an approach could only result in procrastination in effectively implementing Pillar II. We believe that the French proposal to annex a Council’sstatement to the text confirming the commitment of all Member States to the process under way within the Inclusive Framework concerning Pillar I andcalling on the other States Parties to respect this commitment would be enough.
我们尤其以怀疑的眼光看到，波兰继续要求在文本中增加法律保障措施，将执行支柱二与执行经合组织协定支柱一（重新分配征税权）联系起来。从我们的角度来看，可以认为，这种做法只会导致拖延支柱二的有效实施。我们认为，法国提议在文本中附上一份理事会声明，确认所有会员国对有关支柱一的包容性框架内正在进行的进程的承诺，并呼吁其他缔约国尊重这一承诺，这就足够了。
II. Ambitious but challenging timeline
II. 雄心勃勃但具有挑战性的时间表
The Commission decided to stick to the OECD timeline and to maintain the ambitious application date of 1 January 2023 while other jurisdictions like Switzerland already announced that they would apply the new rules only as of 1 January 2024.
欧盟委员会决定遵守经合组织的时间表，并将雄心勃勃的实施日期保持在2023年1月1日，而瑞士等其他辖区已经宣布，它们只会在2024年1月1日起实施新规则。
This question iscurrently being debated in the Council of the EU. The latest compromise proposal tabled by the French Presidency delays the application of the new rules to 31 December 2023.
这个问题目前正在欧盟理事会进行辩论。法国总统提交的最新折衷方案将新规则的实施推迟到2023年12月31日。
For ETAF, it is important that Europe keeps the leadership in this area. In that regard, wevery much support France’sambition to make the minimum taxation in the EU a reality within its six-month presidency of the EU Council and to try to reach an agreement on a final text during the next Ecofin meeting on 5 April.
对ETAF来说，欧洲保持在这一领域的领导地位非常重要。在这方面，我们非常支持法国的雄心，即在其担任欧盟理事会主席的六个月内，使欧盟的最低税率成为现实，并努力在4月5日的下一次经济财政部长会议上就最终文本达成协议。
At the same time,we want to echo the fears we heard in some EU capitals about the timeline and recognize the complexity for tax authorities, tax advisers and for the companies they advise to implement the OECD tax deal in such a short period of time and as the fine-tuning of some rules at OECD level is still ongoing. Forthis reason, we believe that the one-year extension would be a reasonable compromise, while maintaining the political commitment to make Pillar II rules effective still in 2023.
与此同时，我们希望回应我们在一些欧盟国家首都听到的关于时间表的担忧，并认识到税务机关、税务顾问以及他们建议的公司在如此短的时间内实施经合组织税收协议的复杂性，同时经合组织层面的一些规则的微调仍在进行中。因此，我们认为，延长一年将是一个合理的妥协，同时保持政治承诺，使支柱二规则在2023年仍然生效。
Indeed, the OECD ‘Commentary’ on Pillar II has been published only recently and the work on the ‘Implementation Framework’, which has to be finalized before the end of 2022 and will address certain significant administrative and compliance issues, has just been launched.
事实上，经合组织关于支柱二的“评注”最近才发表，而“实施框架”的工作刚刚启动。该框架必须在2022年底前完成，并将解决某些重大的征管和合规问题。
Bearing in mindthat every single change to the text will need to be adopted by the unanimity of Member States, we would strongly urge the EU Council and the European Commission to take into account the remaining work of the OECD on Pillar II before finalising the text of the Directive. Otherwise, we fear that this couldlead to a lack of clarity, uncertainty and ultimately to a difference between the EU and the OECD rules.
考虑到文本的每一项修改都需要得到成员国的一致通过，我们强烈敦促欧盟理事会和欧盟委员会在最终确定指令文本之前，考虑到经合组织关于支柱二的剩余工作。否则，我们担心这可能会导致缺乏明确性和不确定性，并最终导致欧盟和经合组织规则之间的差异。
From our point of view, the statements inserted in the text referring to the Commentary and the Implementation Framework as “asource of illustration or interpretation”are simply not enough. These detailed rules should be incorporated directly in the Directive and the choice to introduce these provisions into domestic legislation should not be left to the discretion of Member States.
我们认为，在文本中插入的将评注和实施框架称作为“说明或解释的来源”的声明是远远不够的。这些详细规则应直接纳入指令中，将这些规定引入国内立法的选择不应由成员国自行决定。
Moreover, it is to be recalled that the OECD agreement on Pillar II only has the status of a ‘common approach’ which means that all the parties to the deal are not legally bound to adopt the new rules but, if they choose to do so, they will have to implement and administer the rules in away that is consistent with what has been agreed internationally.
此外，需要指出的是，经合组织关于支柱二的协议仅具有“共同方法”的地位，这意味着协议各方在法律上没有义务采用新规则，但如果他们选择这样做，他们必须以符合国际商定的方式实施和管理这些规则。
The success of the global minimum tax reform heavily relies on its worldwide implementation. Should some jurisdictions, like the United States, nevertheless decide against minimum taxation in the medium term, it must be ensured that the EU Member States are not stuck with a competitive disadvantage. In that regard, ETAF believes that a kind of sunset clause could be introduced in the text to ensure that if a significant number of our big international partners don’t comply with the deal, the Directive will automatically cease to apply.
全球最低税改革的成功在很大程度上取决于其在全球范围内的实施。如果一些辖区，如美国，仍决定在中期内取消最低税，则必须确保欧盟成员国不会陷入竞争劣势。在这方面，ETAF认为，可以在文本中引入一种“日落条款”，以确保如果我们的大量大型国际合作伙伴不遵守该协议，该指令将自动停止适用。
