On 1 March 2018, MEPs decided to set up a new special committee for financial crime, tax evasion, and tax avoidance (TAX3).

The objective is to continue the work of the TAXE 1 and TAXE 2 special committees (as decided by the European Parliament on 12 February 2015 and on 2 December 2015, respectively), as well as to continue the work of the PANA inquiry committee on money laundering, tax evasion, and tax avoidance (as decided by Parliament on 8 June 2016). In addition to combating tax practices that violate the market, TAX3 shall contribute to the discussion on the taxation of the digital economy; it will examine national tax privileges and third country participation in tax evasion.

Another focus is the investigation of how the circumvention of EU VAT rules could come about, as the revelations of the Paradise Papers suggest.

In addition, a general analysis will be carried out of how well the exchange of information and coordination between Member States and Eurofisc – the EU’s decentralized and multilateral early warning mechanism for combating VAT fraud – is going.

The TAX3 special committee is to have 45 members. The term of office for the committee is 12 months.

The decision could be taken without a vote, because there was no objection to it.