CFE Tax Advisers Europe has submitted an Opinion Statement in response to the European Commission’s consultation on the recast of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC).

CFE welcomes the Commission’s initiative to consolidate DAC1–DAC9 into a single legislative instrument and supports the objective of simplifying the framework while improving its clarity and effectiveness. Successive amendments have led to fragmentation of the legal framework, reduced legal certainty and increased compliance costs, particularly in relation to DAC6, DAC7 and the interaction between DAC4 (country-by-country reporting) and DAC9 (Pillar Two reporting).

The recast represents an important opportunity to address structural shortcomings identified through implementation experience and expert input, while maintaining the core objectives of transparency and effective administrative cooperation.

Issues Identified 

CFE highlights that the current DAC framework has become overly complex due to cumulative amendments and divergent national interpretations. The coexistence of DAC4 and DAC9 creates unnecessary duplication, overlapping reporting obligations and additional administrative burdens for multinational groups. Similarly, DAC6 reporting obligations generate significant compliance costs, with practitioner experience indicating that the preparation and filing of a single report may require substantial legal and technical analysis.

Concerns are also raised regarding the 30-day DAC6 reporting deadline, which may not adequately reflect the complexity of cross-border arrangements. In addition, several DAC6 hallmarks — particularly those linked to the Main Benefit Test and certain category C and D hallmarks — are considered unclear, inconsistently applied across Member States, or difficult to assess in practice due to limited access to relevant information.

The Statement further notes structural asymmetries arising from legal professional privilege rules and duplicative reporting obligations imposed on intermediaries. The current framework may create inefficiencies and legal uncertainty, particularly where reporting obligations shift between intermediaries and taxpayers.

Recommendations

CFE strongly supports the consolidation of DAC1–DAC9 into a single, coherent legislative instrument. It recommends aligning and effectively merging DAC4 and DAC9 reporting frameworks to eliminate duplication and prevent double reporting, including through the introduction of a centralised group reporting model and a notification-of-changes-only approach.

With respect to DAC6, CFE recommends extending the reporting deadline from 30 to 90 days, reassessing and periodically reviewing hallmarks to ensure clarity and proportionality, and introducing a taxpayer-only reporting obligation to eliminate duplicative intermediary reporting and better align with legal professional privilege frameworks across Member States.

CFE also calls for stronger proportionality safeguards, codification of taxpayer rights recognised in CJEU case law, and the systematic publication of consolidated DAC texts following amendments in order to enhance accessibility and legal certainty.

Conclusion

CFE Tax Advisers Europe considers the DAC recast a critical opportunity to simplify and strengthen the framework for administrative cooperation in taxation. Meaningful simplification should reduce administrative burdens while preserving transparency and effective information exchange. CFE stands ready to continue engaging constructively with the Commission and Member States as the recast process progresses.

We invite you to read the Statement and remain available for any queries you may have.