Last December 2021, the European Union issued a new draft directive, known as the Unshell Directive (or “ATAD 3”).
The directive aims to prevent shell entity misuse for tax purposes by standardizing the assessment criteria and processes to identify shell entities through a substance test, and by coordinating their tax treatment among Member States.
While the directive may still be amended and clarified based on comments from various public and private bodies, its main concepts are likely to be adopted.
If the directive is adopted as such, most gateway tests will be done with a 2-year look-back period, placing possibly the 2022 calendar year into scope. Therefore, companies should start preparing for the new directive as of today.
Deloitte has developed a range of bundled services that address all main concepts of the directive and that can be combined based on your needs: ranging from a current impact analysis on your business over concrete actions for the increase of your substance levels to cross-border considerations and additional services you might benefit from.
Opens in new window