Actualités juridiques
Chambre de Commerce
Framework and objectives
Non-resident investors’ right to a lower rate or exemption of withholding tax as laid down in double tax treaties or national rules are not always fully ensured by current functioning of withholding refund/relief procedures throughout the EU.
Withholding tax refund procedures for cross-border payments have proved to be lengthy, resource-intensive and costly for both investors and tax administrations due to the difficulties for tax administrations to properly assess the entitlement to reduced withholding tax rates and the lack of digitalized procedures.
The European Commission is preparing an initiative on improving withholding tax procedures for non-resident investors. The withholding tax initiative aims to provide Member States with the information to prevent tax abuse in the field of withholding taxes and, at the same time, accommodate a swift and efficient processing of the requests for a refund and/or a relief at source procedures of the excess taxes withheld.
Public consultation
In this context, the Commission is inviting the public and stakeholders to express their views on the problems at stake as well as on possible measures and their potential impacts. Information received in this consultation will support the impact assessment that the European Commission is currently carrying out.
This public consultation is targeting all stakeholders, including the private sector representatives as associations/advisors, as well as the general public, including investors and financial intermediaries.
You can contribute to this consultation by filling in the online questionnaire available at this link.
The public consultation is open until 26 June 2022.
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at the following address: jurique@cc.lu