Today, the European and Financial Affairs Council (“ECOFIN”) approved Directive on Faster and Safer Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes (hereafter “FASTER”).
FASTER aims at creating:
- A common EU digital tax residence certificate; and
- A standardised withholding tax (“WHT”) relief procedure implying:
- Standardised reporting obligations for financial intermediaries to provide national tax administrations with the necessary tools to check eligibility for the reduced rate and to detect potential abuse; and
- A two fast-track procedure, assorted with new due diligence obligations, complementing the existing standard refund procedure to relieve excess WHT withheld by a Member State on dividend or interest income paid on publicly traded shares or bonds to non-resident investors.
Hereafter, our Tax Partner, Antoine Dupuis, and Chief Knowledge Officer, Marie Bentley, will analyse the implications of FASTER in Luxembourg.