【KPMG's EU Tax Centre】Euro Tax Flash from EU Tax Centre

免费
3.0 林sir 2024-05-21 26 751.34KB 12 页 免费
侵权投诉
Euro Tax Flash
from KPMG’s
EU Tax Centre
Council agrees on new rules for
harmonized withholding tax
procedures in the EU (
the FASTER
Directive
)
Issue
541
May 14, 2024
Key Summary:
The Council of the European Union reached agreement
(general approach) on the FASTER Directive proposal. Key
features of the proposal include:
- a common EU digital tax residence certificate, which will
comprise of common content, regardless of the issuing
Member State;
- two fast-track procedures complementing the existing
standard refund procedure in each Member State, including:
(i) a relief at source system, and (ii) a quick refund system. In-
scope Member States will be required to implement one of the
two systems (or a combination of both);
- the introduction of National Registers for financial
intermediaries that will be able to facilitate the fast-track
procedures. Such financial intermediaries will be subject to
additional due diligence and common reporting requirements.
Overview of our e-news
E
-News - KPMG Global
ETFsEuro Tax Flash
Euro Tax Flash
- KPMG Global
Council of the EU Fair taxation Faster and Safer Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes
FASTER Withholding TaxesDividends Interest
On May 14, 2024, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the EU (ECOFIN) reached agreement (general
approach) on the proposal for a “Faster and Safer Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes (FASTER)” Directive.
Formal adoption by the Council is expected once the European Parliament has given its opinion on the final
text. Member States have until the end of 2028 to transpose the Directive into domestic law, with the rules to
become applicable as of January 1, 2030.
The aim of the FASTER Directive is to make withholding tax (WHT) procedures in the EU more efficient and
secure for investors, financial intermediaries, and local tax authorities. The Directive gives in-scope Member
States a choice between implementing a quick refund system, a relief at source system or a combination of the
two, as well as the introduction of additional registration and reporting requirements for financial
intermediaries. The agreed text includes significant changes as compared to the initial proposal issued by the
European Commission (EC or Commission), as detailed below.
Background
On June 19, 2023, the EC issued a proposal for a Council Directive providing for “Faster and Safer Relief of
Excess Withholding Taxes (FASTER)”1.
The text of the FASTER proposal has been subject to lengthy discussions in the Council working groups.
Throughout 2023 and 2024, the Spanish and Belgian Presidencies of the Council consistently prioritized the file,
proposing multiple compromise texts.
In parallel, the European Parliament adopted on February 28, 2024, its non-binding opinion on the FASTER
proposal2, including several amendments to the text proposed by the EC. For more information on the
European Parliament opinion, please refer to E-News Issue 192.
Summary of key differences in comparison to the initial EC proposal
The agreed compromise text includes several amendments to the initial text proposed by the EC. Key
differences include:
-amendments to the rules in respect of issuance of the digital tax residence certificate (eTRC). The changes
include, amongst others: an increased deadline for Member States to issue the certificate (14 calendar
days as compared to one day in the initial proposal), a shorter validity of the eTRC (the maximum validity
period has been set as the calendar year, contrasting with the initial proposal where the calendar year was
the minimum validity period), and a requirement to include a reference to the applicable double tax
treaties;
-the possibility of maintaining Member Statescurrent systems of WHT relief, under specific conditions;
-in the context of the ‘quick refund’ procedure, longer deadlines for Member States to refund any overpaid
taxes (60 calendar days starting from the second month following the month of the payment as compared
to 50 calendar days in the initial proposal);
-significant revisions to the list of circumstances under which Member States may exempt requests for WHT
relief from the fast-track procedures. All circumstances are now discretionary, and the list has been
considerably expanded. Furthermore, the definition of the term 'financial arrangement' has been
enhanced with additional clarifications, and the recitals have been revised to incorporate a non-exhaustive
list of what may constitute a 'financial arrangement';
-the establishment of a European Certified Financial Intermediary Portal, aimed at serving as a single
electronic access point for financial intermediaries. Additionally, clarifications are provided regarding
1 For more information on the initiative, please refer to Euro Tax Flash Issue 517 and for the feedback provided by the KPMG
member firms in the EU please refer to Euro Tax Flash Issue 524.
2 Opinions adopted by the European Parliament under the special legislative procedure (which is the procedure applicable in the
case of the FASTER proposal) are not binding on the Council and European Commission, therefore the adoption of any of the
abovementioned changes requested or suggested by the European Parliament are at the discretion of the two institutions.
Agreement
(general approach)
on FASTER
Significant changes
to the initial
proposal
instances where Member States are permitted to reject registration or remove certified financial
intermediaries (CFIs) from National Registers;
-new provisions allowing CFIs to assume the position of non-certified intermediaries, to facilitate the
application of the relief and complete the information that must be reported to the tax authorities;
-amendments to the scope of information to be reported by CFIs and the due diligence procedures to be
conducted by them. Notably, CFIs are required to obtain a declaration that the investor is entitled to the
relief of withholding tax according to the legislation of the source Member State or a double tax treaty
and, when required by the source Member State, is the beneficial owner with respect to the dividend or
interest payment in accordance with the national legislation of the source Member State or a double tax
treaty as described by the Commentary on Article 10 or Article 11 of the OECD Tax Model Convention.
Source Member States therefore have the option to request the declaration on beneficial ownership, as
opposed to this declaration being mandatory in all cases. The simplified processes for small investors
(dividend payments below the EUR 1,000 threshold) in terms of related verification and reporting
requirements to be conducted by CFIs, has been eliminated.
-new special provisions governing indirect investments;
-amendments to the provisions on late payment interest, liability, personal data protection and on
evaluation of the future Directive. Notably, revisions were made to the wording concerning the civil liability
of CFIs, with the aim to target CFIs that fail to fulfill their obligations under the FASTER Directive either
'completely or partially' (in contrast to the original wording of 'intentionally or negligently');
-the timeline for application of the new rules (initially set for January 1, 2027) has been postponed to
January 1, 2030.
Rules agreed by the Council
The FASTER Directive is structured into four Chapters that set out the rules, starting with general provisions on
scope and definitions, moving to the provisions relating to a digital tax residence certificate, the withholding
tax procedures and then finishing with provisions covering the transposition of the Directive into the local laws
of EU Member States.
The provisions of the FASTER Directive set out under Chapter I - General provisions, including the provisions
related to the eTRC, and Chapter IV Penalties and final provisions will be mandatory for all Member States.
Scope
Under the compromise text, Chapter III of the FASTER Directive, which includes provisions regarding national
registers of CFIs and the fast-track procedures, amongst others, will not be binding on Member States that
meet the following two conditions:
-Comprehensive relief at source system (with regards to dividends from publicly traded shares) in order
to be deemed comprehensive, a national relief at source system must meet specific criteria designed to
ensure the straightforward and efficient application of the appropriate tax rate at the time of payment. In
short, the criteria include:
-broad access to all individuals or companies entitled to the relief. According to the Recital to the
Directive, the system should apply for both direct and indirect investments;
-effectiveness, achieved by providing actual relief at the payment date, contingent upon the timely
reporting of all required information;
-no additional entry barriers with the exception of the anti-abuse provisions outlined by the
FASTER Directive;
-no additional information requested (as compared to that prescribed under FASTER), except for
circumstances falling under the anti-abuse provisions outlined in the Directive;
-existence of a liability framework for the loss of WHT revenue;
-penalties applicable to infringements of national provisions on that relief at source system.
-Low market capitalization Member States are classified as such if their market capitalization ratio (a
percentage of the overall market capitalization of the EU) remains below 1.5 percent for at least four
consecutive years. Based on the Belgian Presidency explanatory note, the following 10 Member States had
Scope of the
Directive
摘要:

EuroTaxFlashfromKPMG’sEUTaxCentreCouncilagreesonnewrulesforharmonizedwithholdingtaxproceduresintheEU(theFASTERDirective)Issue541May14,2024KeySummary:TheCounciloftheEuropeanUnionreachedagreement(generalapproach)ontheFASTERDirectiveproposal.Keyfeaturesoftheproposalinclude:-acommonEUdigitaltaxresidence...

展开>> 收起<<
【KPMG's EU Tax Centre】Euro Tax Flash from EU Tax Centre.pdf

共12页,预览4页

还剩页未读, 继续阅读

作者:林sir 分类:电子书 价格:免费 属性:12 页 大小:751.34KB 格式:PDF 时间:2024-05-21

开通VIP享超值会员特权

  • 多端同步记录
  • 高速下载文档
  • 免费文档工具
  • 分享文档赚钱
  • 每日登录抽奖
  • 优质衍生服务
/ 12
客服
关注