The European Commission is considering for the first time allowing a group of EU states to harmonise their corporate tax bases, according to the Reuters news agency.
Germany and France have been calling for harmonised tax rates and a common base to fend off competition from new low-tax EU member states, but Ireland and Britain, both long-term opponents of any step towards common tax rules, are likely to reject such a proposal, even though the Commission does not suggest harmonising tax rates.
The EU Commission is ready to address a proposal only to a small group of states rather than to the full 25-nation EU, an approach known as 'enhanced cooperation' that has never been used before.
'The Commission will examine the possibility for an appropriate legislative initiative addressed to all member states or, if this cannot be attained within a reasonable period of time..., the possibility for an enhanced cooperation for the introduction of the common corporate tax base,' a paper seen by Reuters said.
EU finance ministers are due to discuss the document at a meeting in September in the Netherlands.
EU treaties normally require unanimity on tax proposals, but the enhanced cooperation approach would allow a group as small as eight EU countries to go ahead with the tax plan.
The Commission has been working since 2001 on a plan to simplify the way companies calculate how much tax they owe. Business lobbies have repeatedly backed such a move to cut red tape, and improve transparency and legal certainty.
