Fiscalis 2020 is an EU cooperation programme enabling national tax administrations to create and exchange information and expertise. It allows developing and operating major trans-European IT systems in partnership, as well as establishing various person to person networks by bringing together national officials from across Europe. The programme has a budget of € 234.3 million and will run for 7 years from January 1 2014.
EU Tax policy makes a substantial contribution to the fight against tax fraud and supports revenue collection for the EU and Member States' budgets. It is a key element in efforts to strengthen an EU Internal Market in which the co-existence of 28 national tax systems raises issues of double taxation and distortion of competition. The Fiscalis 2020 programme helps the tax administrations in the Member States get fully equipped to meet future challenges in these fields.
- General objective: to improve the proper functioning of the taxation systems in the internal market by enhancing cooperation between participating countries, their tax authorities and their officials.
- Specific objective: to support the fight against tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning and the implementation of Union law in the field of taxation by
1. ensuring exchange of information
2. supporting administrative cooperation and, where necessary and appropriate
3. enhancing the administrative capacity of participating countries with a view to assisting in reducing the administrative burden on tax authorities and the compliance costs for taxpayers.
The achievement of these objectives shall be measured on the basis, in particular, of the following:
(a) the availability of, and full access to, the common communication network for the European Information Systems;
(b) the feedback from participating countries on the results of actions under the programme. - Operational objectives and priorities of the programme:
(a) to implement, improve, operate and support the European Information Systems for taxation;
(b) to support administrative cooperation activities;
(c) to reinforce the skills and competence of tax officials
(d) to enhance the understanding and implementation of Union law in the field of taxation;
(e) to support the improvement of administrative procedures and the sharing of good administrative practices.
The above objectives and priorities shall be pursued with a particular emphasis on supporting the fight against tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning.
The programme is objective-driven which means that the objectives of all actions under the programme have to be in line with the objectives and priorities outlined in the programme regulation and the resulting Annual Work Programme (strategic and forward looking plan, drafted and adopted by the Commission with input from the participating countries).
More information can be found on the web page: Taxation and customs union - The Fiscalis 2020 Programme