Tax Technology for the European Union!

Abstract

Beyond the adopted Pillar 2 Directive, the European Commission has recently published several legislative initiatives, namely the Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation (BEFIT), the Head Office System of Taxation (HOT), the Fast Track Assured and Safer Tax Excess Refunds (FASTER), the VAT in the digital age (ViDA) as well as the DEBRA proposals. The proposals would, if adopted, add a whole new layer of far-reaching and complex substantive provisions to EU secondary tax law. At the same time, they would mark a decisive step towards digitized taxation processes. The article briefly sketches the corresponding provisions in the ViDA and FASTER proposals, which are particularly relevant in this context. It starts with the ViDA proposal, before turning to the FASTER proposal. It argues that in both cases there are some points that need to be addressed in the legislative procedure so as to fully reap the potential from digitized tax processes. Nevertheless, the proposals are highly welcome, as they promote EU digitized tax processing. These directives may well mark the transition to the age of EU tax technology. Tax technology, digitized tax processing, ViDA, e-invoicing, VAT reporting, FASTER, eCTR, residence certificates, tax treaty residence