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2019 Annual Platform Survey: Tackling Undeclared In The Collaborative Economy And Bogus Self-Employment, Data Exchange And Data Protection, And Cross-Border Sanctions, Colin C. Williams Oct 2019

2019 Annual Platform Survey: Tackling Undeclared In The Collaborative Economy And Bogus Self-Employment, Data Exchange And Data Protection, And Cross-Border Sanctions, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This survey collected information from EU Member States, as well as Iceland and Norway, on three issues:
 Tackling undeclared work in the collaborative economy and bogus self-employment.
 Data exchange and data protection.
 Cross-border sanctions.
Of the 28 Platform members from EU Member States as well as Iceland and Norway, 28 out of 30 responses were received. In addition, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) provided qualitative feedback on the role of social partners and their cooperation with enforcement authorities to tackle undeclared work in the areas covered by the survey.


How To Reduce The Tax Bill Of A Multinational Technology Company?, Dimitrios V. Siskos Sep 2019

How To Reduce The Tax Bill Of A Multinational Technology Company?, Dimitrios V. Siskos

Dimitrios V. Siskos

It is said that nothing in this world is certain except for death and taxes. For those with clever accountants, however, the latter can be kept to a minimum. Particularly, companies seek to minimize their tax liability through "tax planning", adopting deductions, rebates, exemptions and other “legal” tools that the domestic tax system provides to them. However, while tax planning is considered to be quite logical in the terms of making profit, there is a grey area between this and "tax avoidance”. This paper suggests a legitimate tax plan for a multinational technology company that minimizes its tax obligations1, without …


Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union: Policy Report, Colin C. Williams Aug 2019

Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union: Policy Report, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Undeclared work represents a persistent feature of contemporary economies and results in lost public revenue, lack of worker protection and unfair competition for legitimate businesses. Conventionally, undeclared work has been viewed as an individual criminal act, which is solved by governments increasing the penalties and risks of detection in order to discourage participation. This, however, only deals with the outcome (i.e., participation in undeclared work) and does not address the drivers of this behaviour.
This report explores the formal institutional failures which make undeclared work an acceptable behaviour in the eyes of citizens and, consequently, result in high participation in …


Tackling Undeclared Work Across Europe: Effective Solutions For Policy-Makers, Colin C. Williams Jul 2019

Tackling Undeclared Work Across Europe: Effective Solutions For Policy-Makers, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This document sets out examples of proven approaches
and practices that Platform members and observers
have used to tackle undeclared work in Europe. The
aim is to inspire national policy-makers with tried and
tested approaches and to provide sources of further
information of how to put these concrete examples into
action.


Shadows: Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams Jul 2019

Shadows: Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Across the member states of the European Union and beyond, paid transactions are occuring that are not declared to the state for tax, social security or labour law purposes. The practice is not a minority one. As a result, tackling undeclared work has become a core issue on the policy agendas of both governments and the European Commission, reflected in the establishment of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work. 
How, therefore, can undeclared work be tackled? A review of the literature indicates two major distinct approaches. First, a rational economic actor approach that tackles undeclared work by ensuring that the …


Future Role And Competence Profile Of Labour Inspectorates, Colin C. Williams Jun 2019

Future Role And Competence Profile Of Labour Inspectorates, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The transformation of undeclared work into declared work using a combination of preventative and deterrence measures has significant implications for the future role of enforcement authorities1, and the skills and competencies required.
This thematic review workshop (TRW) will provide Platform members with an opportunity to engage in mutual learning and share understanding of the key human resource management issues for both inspectorates as well as inspectors. These issues arise from transforming undeclared work into declared work, the adoption of a wider range of deterrence and preventative approaches and achieving a good balance between deterrence and prevention. In addition, enforcement authorities …


Preventative Approaches To Tackle Undeclared Work, With A Focus Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams Jun 2019

Preventative Approaches To Tackle Undeclared Work, With A Focus Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.


Preventative Approaches For Tackling Undeclared Work, Focusing Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Learning Resource Paper For The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams May 2019

Preventative Approaches For Tackling Undeclared Work, Focusing Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Learning Resource Paper For The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Ÿ  Effective preventative approaches are long-term, tailored strategies. Over time, they can trigger behavioural change to declare work and increase trust in institutions. Preventative strategies should combine a range of measures and must be regularly tested, evaluated and adapted according to the results. Pilot schemes can be used to find effective ways to tailor approaches to the national context and culture. However, preventative approaches and deterrence approaches are complementary. Both can be used to tackle undeclared work.
Ÿ  Moving towards preventative measures requires a change of strategy of the role of enforcement institutions. A preventative approach requires support of all …


Shadow Economy: Definitions, Terms And Theoretical Considerations, Colin C. Williams May 2019

Shadow Economy: Definitions, Terms And Theoretical Considerations, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The last decades, many scholars highlighted the shadow economic activities, regarding their disadvantages (unemployment, impoverishment etc) and advantages (intensifies competition, flexibility in employment etc). During the financial crisis, informal activities rose in noisy way, which triggered the development of special definitions to describe a wide range of actions which in turn have gradually configured and updated the content of the shadow economy term. In this paper we present the theoretical background of the shadow economy term, by selecting the main worldwide literature published from 1973 to 2018. Many studies have tried to definite the shadow economy term but none has …


Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo, Colin C. Williams Apr 2019

Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of undeclared work in Kosovo* followed by recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled.


Ifth Plenary Meeting Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Report On Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union, Colin C. Williams Mar 2019

Ifth Plenary Meeting Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Report On Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The fifth Plenary meeting of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work was held in Brussels on 18-19 October 2018. The first day of this meeting was dedicated to the topic of tackling under-declared employment in the European Union. This report summarises the discussions at the workshop, which drew on the findings of two studies on this topic produced as part of the Platform’s work programme.

The objective of this thematic discussion on under-declared employment in the European Union was: (i) to exchange information on what works and what does not, (ii) to generate knowledge about under-declared employment, and (iii) to …


Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, With A Focus Upon Seasonal Workers And Horticulture: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams Mar 2019

Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, With A Focus Upon Seasonal Workers And Horticulture: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The Platform seminar provided participants with an opportunity to reflect on existing practices, tools and
approaches that deal with undeclared work in the agricultural sector in Europe. Discussions focused on methods
and tools for the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work in the agricultural sector and Platform members,
observers and social partners played an active and central role in the day.


Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector: A Learning Resource, Colin C. Williams Mar 2019

Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector: A Learning Resource, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

On 24 January 2019, the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work organised a seminar in Brussels on Tackling undeclared work in the agricultural sector, with a focus upon seasonal workers and horticulture. The seminar brought together Platform members or designated representatives from EU Member States (MS) representing labour inspectorates and social security, tax and customs authorities, and national and European social partner representatives from the agricultural sector. The intention was to provide participants with an opportunity to engage in mutual learning and exchange knowledge on how to tackle undeclared work in the agricultural sector and transform undeclared into declared work. Participants …


Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Bosnia And Herzegovina: A Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams Mar 2019

Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Bosnia And Herzegovina: A Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The main objective of this study is to investigate undeclared employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, its extent, character, potential determinants and current policy approach in tackling this problem. The study relies on the existing EU literature with similar focus, typical secondary data and two primary data sources gathered through a representative survey of BiH population and in-depth interviews with state officials working on undeclared employment. The study thus provides in-depth analysis of undeclared employment in BiH and as such it aims to serve as an underpinning tool which should help to identify new set of policies needed to improve the …


Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams Mar 2019

Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of undeclared work in Kosovo* followed by recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled


Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Montenegro: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams Mar 2019

Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Montenegro: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The Montenegrin labour market is characterized by low activity of the working age population, relatively high unemployment, particularly among the young, wide spread undeclared work and the lack of a sufficient number of new and quality jobs. Volume of undeclared work in Montenegro is significant, amounting to one third of total employment. The key purpose of this policy paper is to provide insight into the scope of the undeclared economy in Montenegro, to describe the policy measures implemented in order to tackle undeclared economy and their effectiveness. This involved both desk-based research and interviews with institutions involved in tackling the …


Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Serbia: A Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams Feb 2019

Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Serbia: A Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of the undeclared economy in Serbia and is followed by a report that will provide recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled.


Institutional Asymmetry And The Acceptability Of Undeclared Work: Synthesis Report, Colin C. Williams Jan 2019

Institutional Asymmetry And The Acceptability Of Undeclared Work: Synthesis Report, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This report is part of the project SHADOWSwhich aims to investigate the effectiveness of different policy measures in reducing undeclared work. As such, the project evaluates not only the effectiveness of using a rational economic actor approach (that tackles undeclared work by ensuring that the payoff from undeclared work is outweighed by the costs), and a social actor approach (grounded in a view that undeclared work arises when tax morale is low), but also analyses the interaction effects (between deterrents and tax morale, and vertical and horizontal trust) in various contexts. This report focuses on the social actor approach, …


Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, With A Focus Upon Seasonal Workers And Horticulture: Background Paper For The European Platform On Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams Jan 2019

Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, With A Focus Upon Seasonal Workers And Horticulture: Background Paper For The European Platform On Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This background paper briefly sets out the prevalence of undeclared work in the agricultural sector in the European Union and the approaches and tools available for tackling such work, with a focus upon horticulture and undeclared seasonal workers. The intention is to stimulate the thoughts of participants attending the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work seminar on “Tackling undeclared work in the agricultural sector: with a focus upon seasonal workers and horticulture” (to be held in Brussels on January 24th 2019) on potential policy which could be adopted to transform undeclared work into declared work in the agricultural sector, especially with …