4.3.5.1 Introduction

The ATAD1 is part of the Anti-Tax Avoidance Package presented by the EC in January 2016. The Directive aims to provide a minimum level of protection for the internal market and aims to ensure a harmonized and coordinated approach in the EU to the implementation of some of the recommendations under the OECD BEPS project.2 The ATAD contains the following measures: an earnings stripping rule, an exit tax, a general anti-abuse rule, a CFC measure (all included in ATAD1) and provisions that are aimed at combatting hybrid structures (included in ATAD2). Most of the anti-abuse provisions in the Directive aim to make sure that group situations cannot be exploited to avoid taxation. The rules apply to all taxpayers that are subject to corporate tax in a Member State. EU permanent establishments of corporate taxpayers of other Member States or third countries should also be subject to the rules.3

This section briefly describes the various anti-avoidance rules, including the extent to which a group approach is applied. Subsequently, the question whether a similar rule currently is included in the OECD MTC is answered. If this is not the case, the advisability of adding a similar rule to the OECD MTC is discussed, assessed from the objectives of the OECD MTC. The section ends with an interim conclusion.