The Commission also presents today a new practical instrument to improve administrative cooperation in the area of direct taxation.
Proper identification of taxpayers is essential to effective exchange of information between MS' tax administrations. Today the Commission officially launches the new application "TIN on EUROPA". This application provides samples of official identity documents containing national TINs (tax identification numbers). It thus allows any third party, and in particular financial institutions, to quickly, easily and correctly identify and record TINs in cross-border relations. In addition, an on-line checking system similar to VIES (VAT information exchange system) makes it possible to check whether the structure or the algorithm of a given TIN is correct. This new application could be a first step towards a more consistent approach to TINs at EU level (see chapter 4.2.1 below) and will contribute to a more effective automatic exchange of information.
