THE UNSHELL DIRECTIVE PROPOSAL IN A NUTSHELL: OPEN QUESTIONS

The paper analyses the recent European Commission’s Proposal for a Council Directivelaying down rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes and amending Directive 2011/16/EU, commonly referred to as the Unshell Directive Proposal. Theauthor firstly identifies the features of the existing EU legislative framework contributingto the widespread utilization of shell entities for tax avoidance purposes and clarifies thepolicy context in which the Unshell Directive Proposal was drafted. She further providesa detailed analysis of the anti-avoidance mechanism introduced thereby and discusses anumber of questions which the said mechanism raises. In addition, the author assesses itseffects on Serbian corporate taxpayers. She concludes that the envisaged anti-avoidancemechanism deserves further refinement, not least in regards to its interaction with MemberStates’ general anti-avoidance measures, as well as with respect to the economic substanceindicators on which it is based.