What changed

SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE procedure

P10_TA(2024)0033

Follow up to the European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council directive on Faster and Safer Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes

1. Rapporteur: Herbert DORFMANN (EPP / IT)

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

2. Reference numbers: 2023/0187 (CNS) / A9-0007/2024 / P9_TA(2024)0102

PE765.063

3. Date of adoption of the resolution: 28 February 2024

European Parliament legislative resolution of 14 November 2024 on the draft Council directive on Faster and Safer Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes (09925/2024 – C10-0002/2024 – 2023/0187(CNS))

4. Legal basis: Article 115 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

(Special legislative procedure – renewed consultation)

5. Competent Parliamentary Committee: Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON)

The European Parliament,

6. Commission's position: The Commission takes note of the amendments proposed by the European Parliament, while reserving its detailed position on these while the discussion in the Council is ongoing.

– having regard to the Council draft (09925/2024),

Notwithstanding this, the Commission welcomes the ambitious European Parliament opinion and underlines that it can agree with the spirit of the majority of the amendments, as these are in line with the objectives of the proposal or already under discussion in Council and reflect the underlying principles of the proposed policy choices. The Commission wishes to note, in particular, the following amendments (AM):

– having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2023)0324),

• AM 31, which proposes to extend the holding period of the underlying share from which the dividend is paid from two to five days before the ex-dividend date. This amendment would improve the ability of the Member States to prevent fraud and/ or tax abuse. Therefore, the Commission could support it, should the Council agree to include this in its compromise text.

– having regard to its position of 28 February 2024,

• AMs 38 and 39, which relate to facilitating the due diligence procedures for financial intermediaries by producing guidelines and allowing such procedures to be undertaken on an annual basis. The Commission agrees that further harmonisation of due diligence procedures could be advisable by means of guidelines. These could be drafted by the Commission services in cooperation with experts from Member States via exchange of best practices. In the same vein, the latest compromise text clarifies that due diligence tasks can be done on an annual basis instead of on each dividend distribution event.

– having regard to Article 115 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament again (C100002/2024),

• AM 42, on introducing within the quick refund system a legitimate rejection ground based on the communication of an open verification process or tax audit. This amendment is in line with the objectives of the proposal as it provides tax administrations with a legal tool to verify the appropriateness of the refund request and, as a consequence, to better fight fraud.

– having regard to Rule 84 and 86 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A10-0011/2024),

1. Approves the Council draft;

2. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

3. Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to substantially amend the text approved by Parliament;

4. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.