The European Parliament has adopted its opinion on the proposal to amend the Directive on Administrative Cooperation (2011/16), known as DAC, on 12 February 2025.

The proposal seeks to simplify filing and reduce the administrative burden for MNEs under the Minimum Taxation Directive (2022/2523) (DAC9).

The opinion was drafted by MEP Aurore Lalucq and was passed with 608 votes for, 33 against, and 8 abstentions.

Earlier, on 28 October 2024, the European Commission announced that it had adopted a proposal to amend the Directive on Administrative Cooperation in the Field of Taxation (Directive 2011/16/EU. This amendment aims to simplify compliance requirements for companies under the Pillar Two Directive (Directive (EU) 2022/2523).

The DAC9 proposal is closely linked with the 2022 Pillar 2 Directive, which aims to ensure a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups (MNEs) and large-scale domestic groups in the EU.

For this purpose, it sets up a system for authorities to exchange information with each other. It introduces a standard form in line with that developed by the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework, which MNEs and large-scale domestic groups (LSDGs) will have to use to report certain tax-related information. These two elements are prerequisites under Article 44 of the Pillar 2 Directive to apply the simplified rules for reporting obligations, which allows for a central filing by a designated entity on behalf of the entire group as opposed to individual filings by each constituent entity.

Without the DAC9 proposal, each company that forms part of an MNE would have to file a top-up tax information return in the country where it is based, which can be time‑consuming and complicated.

Under the consultation procedure, the European Parliament’s opinion is required but not legally binding.