Let Countries Strengthen EU Tax Reporting Rules, Lawmakers Say

European Union countries shouldn’t be discouraged from implementing tighter public country-by-country tax reporting rules, European Parliament lawmakers said.

Lawmakers Thursday raised concerns over so-called gold-plating guidance from the European Commission telling countries not to expand a country-by-country reporting directive. They characterized the move as an effort to pressure bloc members to weaken those rules.

The directive (EU 2021/2101), which sets the minimum standards each country must write into its national law, is intended to prevent tax avoidance by forcing companies to disclose more about where they’re booking their taxable profits

The Commission went “behind the backs of citizens,” and was ...