EU Proposes Extension of Directive on Mutual Assistance in Tax Investigation

On September 9, 2003, the European Commission proposed legislation to aid cross-border cooperation attempts for fighting tax evasion. The proposal?s provisions encourage countries? tax agencies to treat international tax evasion as if they were national cases and expedite information exchange. The legislation targets numerous crimes, among them false invoicing and nondeclaration of income earned or purchases made abroad. The proposal will not constrain any previous agreements among member states concerning cross-border cooperation. The EU?s proposals will be implemented once they achieve a single market, and their ambitions reflect the Union?s status as cutting-edge in terms of cross-border cooperation to combat criminal acts.