On December 22, 2021, the European Commission released a proposal for a council directive prescribing rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes (the draft directive or the Unshell proposal). The draft directive caused much legal uncertainty because of its imprecise concepts and substance requirements. After several years of discussions between the commission and EU member state delegations, the draft directive was finally abandoned on June 20.
In this tax notes international article, our Tax Partner and Head of Transfer Pricing, Oliver R. Hoor, explains why this
abandonment is a welcome development.