The Council today reached an agreement (general approach) on safer and faster procedures to obtain double taxation relief, which will help boost cross-border investment and help fight tax abuse.
The so-called FASTER initiative aims to make withholding tax procedures in the EU safer and more efficient for cross-border investors, national tax authorities and financial intermediaries, such as banks or investment platforms.
Double taxation
Although treaties between member states aim to solve the issue of double taxation, in reality the procedures to claim withholding tax relief vary considerably from one member states to another, which results in relief or refund procedures being lengthy, costly and cumbersome. These procedures can also be vulnerable to large-scale tax fraud.
The withholding tax initiative will make tax relief procedures faster, simpler and, at the same time, safer.
Common tax residence certificate
The directive will introduce a common EU digital tax residence certificate (eTRC) that tax paying investors would be able to use in order to benefit from the fast-track procedures to obtain relief from withholding taxes.
Fast-track procedures
The directive allows member states to have two fast-track procedures complementing the existing standard refund procedure for withholding taxes. This will make relief and refund processes faster and more closely harmonised across the EU.
