"EU agrees new rules to tackle multinationals tax avoidance", 21 Feb 2017

European Union finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to close loopholes multinational corporations use to skip taxation on dividends, part of a drive to stop them from parking profits where they pay the least tax.  The new rules, due to go into effect in 2020, should help the EU recoup revenues from companies that cut their tax bills by declaring profits in countries with low or no taxation.  Tax-saving schemes used by Apple, Amazon, Google, Starbucks and other companies - all legal under current laws - have raised public pressure for EU-wide rules to close these loopholes...Ministers agreed that countries that apply zero tax rates will not automatically be considered a tax haven, but they will be subject to checks against other criteria, such as their level of cooperation with the EU on tax matters or the existence of off-shore structures in their jurisdictions..."It's welcome that the EU now accepts that a zero percentage tax rate is potentially harmful," said the anti-poverty charity Oxfam.  But without a blanket ban on zero tax rates, it added, "Oxfam is worried that the likes of Bermuda and Bahamas might slip through the net"...