EMEA Dbriefs - The EU directive on Faster and Safer Tax Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes (FASTER)

The world of withholding tax is changing. In Europe, the withholding tax landscape is currently fragmented and often manual and paper-based. FASTER, a new EU Directive, will change this. FASTER establishes a common EU-wide system for withholding tax (“WHT”) on listed cross-border dividends and/or interest payments. FASTER aims to streamline and digitise WHT relief processes across EU Member States, improving the current WHT relief process for investors in Europe, while also fighting against tax abuse and fraud. We will discuss:  

• How the Financial Services industry will be impacted 
• The three key pillars to FASTER – electronic certificate of residence, certified financial intermediates, and new withholding tax relief procedures.
• Other local regimes being implemented, such as the German regime which will go live in 2027.
• How financial intermediaries need to plan for these changes now, despite a go live date of 2030   

Stay ahead of these changes.