19-09-2023 15:00
Prevention of tax abuse in the area of withholding taxes
On 19 September 2023, from 15:00 to 16:30, the FISC Subcommittee hosted a public hearing on “New EU common system for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax abuse in the area of withholding taxes”.
Burdensome withholding tax refund procedures for cross-border payments are often perceived to creating a risk of double taxation and significant barriers to cross-border investments in the single market. Moreover, abuses of withholding tax refund procedures in the so-called cum-cum and cum-ex schemes are estimated to have led to revenue losses of about EUR 140 billion between 2000 and 2020. To address this issue, the Commission has announced an initiative on improving withholding tax procedures for non-resident investors, the so-called "Faster and Safer Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes" (or the "FASTER") proposal.
The purpose of this hearing was to discuss the Commission's 'FASTER' proposal in light of the Parliament's own-initiative report of 10 March 2022 on a European Withholding Tax Framework and Parliament's opinion on the new initiative. It was also an opportunity for academics and business representatives to share their views on this highly topical proposal.
- Draft programme of the hearing (PDF - 116 KB)
- Webstreaming
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Background document provided by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS)
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Dr Francesca Amaddeo, Lawyer, PhD, lecturer-researcher at Tax Law Competence Centre - University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI)
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Ms Christiane Hölz, Managing Director at DSW (Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz e.V.), Member of Better Finance
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Mr Francesco De Lillo, Managing Senior at IBFD (International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation) EU Tax Knowledge Team