EU leaders make progress in talks to crackdown on tax evasion and fraud

EU leaders have said significant progress has been made at a meeting today in relation to strategies to crackdown on tax evasion and fraud within Europe.

The President of the European Commission said that all EU Governments have agreed to ensure no loopholes exist to allow companies exploit tax laws.

Jose Manuel Barroso, said that while specific issues were not discussed there is agreement that no exploitation of different tax regimes in different states can happen.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny attended today's European Council summit in Brussels and said that no mention of Apple's alleged tax loophole was mentioned.

The meeting came following revelations yesterday that the technology giant has paid less than 2%t tax on billions of euro of global sales put through Irish operations.