DAC 6 - Reporting obligations for tax planning

Directive 2018/822/EU amending (for the sixth time) Directive 2011/16/EU as regards the mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation of reportable cross-border tax arrangements ("DAC6") entered into force on 25 June 2018. It must be transposed into national law by the EU Member States by 31 December 2019. The Directive states that certain tax arrangements must be reported electronically to the respective tax authorities of the EU Member States. In principle, the reporting obligation to the tax authorities begins on 1 July 2020 (in Poland, however, the reporting obligation has already been in force since the beginning of 2019). However, cross-border tax arrangements must also be reported in case the first step of such a tax arrangements was implemented between 25 June 2018 and 30 June 2020 (so called retrospective reporting obligation).

The reporting obligation applies not only to tax advisors (so-called intermediaries), but also to the companies themselves, especially in the case of in-house planning. For this reason, companies should also implement a DAC 6 compliance process. However, such a DAC 6 compliance process can also be outsourced to our WTS DAC 6 Center of Excellence as part of business process outsourcing.

Business Process Outsourcing

In the course of a Business Process Outsourcing the WTS DAC 6 Center of Excellence takes over the essential steps of a DAC 6 Compliance process. This includes gathering the relevant factual information, proving whether a reporting obligation according to DAC 6 is given (based on the German Implementation Act; on request also according to other European implementation laws) as well as reporting to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) (or another responsible tax authority). If requested, all notifications will be coordinated with you or your process manager before the reporting takes place.

WTS DAC 6 Center of Excellence

Through the experts in our WTS DAC 6 Center of Excellence, we are able to conduct a prompt and efficient audit of a reporting obligation and also ensure the consistency of the reports over time across the Group. As our specialists at the WTS DAC 6 Center of Excellence also include experts from our European WTS Global Member Firms, we are able to assess the reporting obligation for all DAC 6-relevant jurisdictions.

DAC 6 Compliance Process

A large number of German companies have outsourced their tax compliance processes to WTS. By integrating these processes and taking over the internal compliance processes, we are familiar with the functions and circumstances of the companies regularly affected by DAC 6. Our WTS DAC 6 Center of Excellence can use this experience and process knowledge for our clients in the context of business process outsourcing, since WTS knows the processes relevant to DAC 6 in the companies like no other consultant and can therefore efficiently identify the relevant facts and report them.