Business Bureau to hold seminar on 'detrimental' common corporate tax base

The Malta Businesses Bureau and Bank of Valletta are holding a seminar on 19 June to inform the business community of the impacts that a common corporate tax base could have on Malta.

The seminar's keynote address will be a presentation on the CCTB by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, authors of a study for the MBB on the tax base proposal, with presentations from Grant Thorton's tax partner Austin Demajo, and KPMG tax partner Juanita Brockdorff.

Following the recent completion of an impact assessment on the European Commission proposal for a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB), the MBB has concluded that the proposal would be detrimental for Malta.

"The CCCTB proposal undermines the competitive edge of EU economies such as Malta, which are reliant on the use of corporate taxation, amongst other factors, for attracting overseas business investment," MBB president George Vella said.

"It is very likely that Malta will be placed at a disadvantage from a public revenues' perspective, when the share of the consolidated tax base is attributed to the member states, due to the fact that the composition of the Commission's CCCTB formula - based on companies' tangible fixed assets, employees' payroll costs and the revenues generated in a particular state - will ostensibly favour the member-states endowed with larger-scale manufacturing endeavours rather than services-oriented economies," Vella said.

Apart from specific member states, the MBB says the EU as a whole could also possibly witness an exodus of business that would start looking for better fiscal treatment within third-country jurisdictions.

The MBB is encouraging the government, the Opposition and the social partners to take a unified strong position against the proposed CCCTB Directive.

The business seminar is being held on Tuesday 19th June, (09:00hrs - 11:00hrs) at the BOV Centre, Santa Venera. For registration and more information contact the MBB on [email protected] or 21 251 719. Event programme can be viewed on www.mbb.org.mt

Proceedings will be held in English.