On 24 June 2020, the EU Council adopted an amendment to the Directive on administrative cooperation in the area of taxation (DAC6 Directive). The amendment gives member states an option to postpone, by up to six months, the time limits for the filing and exchange of: (1) the automatic exchanges of information on financial accounts of which the beneficiaries are tax residents in another member state; and (2) the reportable cross border tax planning arrangements.

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 lockdown measures to the activities of many financial institutions, tax advisors and tax authorities have delayed timely compliance with their reporting obligations. The amended DAC6 Directive also provides the possibility, under strict conditions, for the Council to extend the deferral period once, for a maximum of three further months.

Nevertheless, all relevant information will have to be reported to and exchanged by the tax authorities with the re-scheduled deadlines.

Luxembourg has announced that, subject to the amended DAC6 Directive being formalised, it would amend the Luxembourg law that transposed the DAC6 Directive. The draft law is expected to be published soon (see our relevant blog post here.)

The Commission’s press release can be found here.

The amended Directive can be found here.