Ministers have deferred a possible pledge to clamp down on multinationals’ schemes to disproportionately reduce tax bills

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

European Union finance ministers failed to agree new rules to counter tax avoidance and have deferred until June a possible deal to clamp down on multinationals’ schemes to disproportionately reduce tax bills.

“We will continue working on this in the coming weeks. Hopefully we can come to a final agreement on this proposal in June,” the Dutch finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said during a public session of a meeting of EU finance ministers on Wednesday.

In the wake of the Luxleaks and Panama Papers revelations, ministers were under pressure to approve new rules proposed by the European commission in January to tackle corporations’ tax practices, which are estimated to cost EU states €70bn a year in lost revenues.

But several ministers raised concerns about some of the proposed measures, particularly on rules intended to deter companies from shifting profits to low-tax countries and aimed at forcing them to pay taxes on dividends and other profits made in tax-free countries.