EU member states collaborate to catch tax debtors
The European Commission recently reported on the 2005-2008 figures regarding the level of unpaid taxes recovered under the mutual assistance directive between member states. The statistics reveal a six fold increase in the amounts recovered from 2003 to 2008. However, the Commission comments that the amounts recovered comprise only 5% of the amounts claimed by member states.
The original community arrangements for mutual assistance between Member States were codified in May 2008. They were put in place because it was recognised that it was increasingly likely that the debtor, or recoverable assets belonging to the debtor, were within the jurisdiction of another Member State. Arrangements at Community level were necessary to ensure that taxpayers did not successfully evade their obligations in this way.