Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
SECRETARIAAT‐GENERAAL
SECRÉTARIAT GÉNÉRAL
Fifteen years of cooperation Titre
in the fight against fiscal
(and social) fraud: investment and return
Benelux: a bit of history
Customs Union
1948
Benelux Economic Union
Schengen Agreements
1985
1960
Benelux Union
2012
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
OBJECTIVES
POLITICAL ORIENTATION
• EXPAND THE CROSS‐BORDER
• COMMON WORK PROGRAMME
• ANNUAL PLANS
ADOPTED BY THE COMMITTEE
OF MINISTERS
COOPERATION
• SERVE AS A LABORATORY FOR THE
EU
THEMES
INSTITUTIONS
• INTERNAL MARKET AND
•
•
•
•
•
ECONOMIC UNION
• SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
• JUSTICE AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS
PLUS: • POSSIBILITIES OFFERED
THROUGH THE TREATY
→NORTH RHINE‐WESTPHALIA: COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS
COUNCIL
BENELUX PARLIAMENT
BENELUX COURT
GENERAL SECRETARIAT
BENELUX UNION
POLITICAL DECLARATION
• NORDIC, BALTIC, VISEGRAD
‐‐‐‐
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
European context: art. 350 TFEU
« The provisions of this Treaty shall not preclude the existence or completion of regional unions between Belgium and Luxembourg, or between Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to the extent that the objectives of these regional unions are not attained by application of this Treaty.»
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
TOOLBOX OF THE BENELUX UNION
Art.6 (2)
Benelux Treaty
DECISION
TREATY
RECOMMANDATION
INSTRUCTION
to implement provisions of the treaty concerning any matter pertaining to the treaty in relation with the functioning of the Benelux Union
Committee of Ministers to Council / Secretary general
Binding for the Benelux member states
Binding after ratification Not binding, soft law
Binding for the addressee Leuven 22/23 May 2017
Annual Plan & Common Work Programme
COMMON WORK PROGRAMME 2017‐2020  INNOVATIVE COOPERATION
 SUSTAINABILITY AND DIGITALISATION
 STRONGER REGIONAL COOPERATION
ANNUAL PLAN
(PRIORITIES OF THE DUTCH PRESIDENCY IN 2017)
→ SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC REGION
→ SAFETY AND SECURITY WITHOUT BORDERS
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
Safety and security
Fraud prevention
Tax fraud / fiscal policy
Social fraud
/ dumping
Other forms of fraud
Business scams
Health sector Leuven 22/23 May 2017
Fiscal cooperation and the fight against tax evasion / tax fraud
Cross‐border, organized tax evasion/fraud Fiscal policy
• Indirect taxes (VAT and excise duties)
• Direct taxes
Aiming to: • Create an honest, transparent and enterprise‐friendly economic policy and climate
• Combat, detect and prevent fraud, evasion and abuse
• Making sure money is paid as due and ends up in the right member state / place Achieved through:
• A steering committee
• Working groups: experts working on specific projects with a measurable outcome Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
Working groups – Focus – Example of results
Monitoring movement of goods
Excise duties/customs
Custom controls
Benelux Steering Committee
“Fiscal cooperation and the fight against tax
fraud” Administrative/judicial cooperation
Administrative cooperation
National, European, international developments
Tax rulings
Sport (racing) horses
Compliance VAT, customs, veterinary regulations
Declaring the full turnover
Mini One Stop Shop
Missing Trader Intra‐community
Fraud Benelux
Optimization
Extension
VAT‐carousel
Monitoring
VAT Refund Procedure
Intelligence
Data exchange between administrations
Risk monitoring
Risk analysis Overview excise duties
Parallel Warning System
Protocol on joint/several liability
Treatment of data (Panama papers)
Coordinated cross‐border checks
Benelux political declaration
Recommendations to EU
Eurofisc
Transaction Network Analysis Link with the recovery department Exchange of best practice Leuven 22/23 May 2017
Examples of successes of the last 15 years
• Forerunner Eurofisc/EMCS
• Management fees (double taxation agreements)
• Benelux24 form: quick exchange of information
• Trusts: legislative changes
• Study on cash flows (review of 1889/2005/EC)
And: …
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
VAT carousel fraud
Transaction Network Analysis:
• Clusters the existing methods in one analysis system
• Assures an earlier and automated detection
• Connects information and shows the relationship between the players in the fraud chain
• Can detect any kind of player
• Prioritises potentially fraudulent networks
 Benelux ran two pilots
 Promising results were presented to European member states (experts)
→ Outcome of Ecofin
25/5/2016: Members states can implement TNA on a voluntary basis → New Eurofisc Working Field (after the summer)
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
Sport (racing horses)
• Money laundering
• Failure to declare the full turn over
• Abuses of the customs procedures
• Not or not completely complying with the veterinary regulations
• Letter box companies  Cooperation between tax, customs, and veterinary administrations
 Benelux cooperation with NRW/NI and N‐FR
→ Two coordinated and simultaneous controls
→ 29/11/2016: Ministers signed a Benelux recommendation in order to stimulate multidisciplinary cooperation, exchange of information, multilateral controls, contact with the sector, …
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
VAT Refund Procedure
• Discuss and resolve interpretational differences
• List the issues which form the obstacles for a smooth procedure
→ BE/NL/LUX: small pilot on the refund of excise duty on diesel oil • Talk about methods to detect fraudsters  (BNL) Workshop Fiscalis 8/9 December 2016
→ BE/NL: procedure to link information about a VAT refund to information about (tax) debts in order to use the refund to settle the debt: brings in money
→ 22 EU Member states do something similar now
Follow up Workshop Fiscalis:
→ Sugges ons for improving the VAT Forum on CIRCABC
→ Categorizing the incoming requests
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
More work to do in 2017…
In addition to a follow up on the current projects: • 9 June 2017: Benelux workshop on Administrative and judicial cooperation in the field (based on a Benelux Treaty)
• 9 November 2017: Benelux workshop on tax rulings (feedback, risk analysis, flow of data, …)
Points of interest for the future: ? E‐commerce
? Intelligence Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
Social fraud/ social dumping Underpayment, undeclared work, exploitation, evasion of social security contributions, charging unfair expenses (for transport/bed and board/…), lack of social security/insurance, bad and/or unhealthy working conditions, …. Aiming to: • Ensure that employees work in a fair and healthy work environment and are treated according to the law and correctly • Prevent unfair competition and a race to the bottom • Fight the erosion of social rights and solidarity
Achieved through:
• A Steering committee
• Working groups: experts working on specific projects with a measurable outcome Political support:
• Joint declaration Social Summit Benelux (13/02/2014) • Recommendation of the Benelux Committee of Ministers (23/09/2015)
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
Organisational structure Benelux Steering Committee Social fraud /dumping
Sham constructions A1/posting
Optimisation of the process/cooperation
Data matching
Fraudulent interim agencies
Risk analysis
Inspections
Social security/benefits
Identification
Data exchange
Data matching
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
Examples of successes of the last couple of years
• Coordinated cross border checks of interim agencies (more BE/NL & BE/LUX checks are to be done in the future)
• A comparison of LIMOSA (BE) data and A1 data (NL) (RE: posting) showed irregularities. The results of the data matching were presented in the European Social
Insurance Platform
• Start up of a pilot to compare data on social benefits with data on professional activities Leuven 22/23 May 2017
Other forms of fraud/fraud prevention
Business scams (Benelux coordination centre/hotline)
Health sector Initial meeting ‘Cross border fraud in the health sector’ (12/05/17) organised by the Benelux and the European Healthcare Fraud & Corruption Network, including the signing of a Benelux political declaration
Focal points:
‐ The exchange of information regarding carers who have been suspended or disbarred
‐ The use of a European social insurance card in the case of cross border care
‐ The financial flow of the patients within the Benelux member states
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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Yvonne Havenga ‐ 23 May ‐ 15:15
Thank you
www.benelux.int
@beneluxunion
Yvonne Havenga, [email protected]
Leuven 22/23 May 2017
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