Name: Subcommittee on Tax Matters Ordinary meeting
Uploaded: 2026-09-07T14:30:00+00:00
Duration: 8221 s

04:49 - 05:07

Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to this meeting of the FISC subcommittee. I would like to ask you to take your seats. The first item on the agenda is the adoption of the agenda. The draft agenda was circulated to all members.

05:07 - 05:36

Can I consider the agenda adopted? I see no objections, so the agenda is adopted. The next item is the Chair's announcements. I have two announcements to make. First, on the 13th of February, the FISC coordinators met and decided to organize a public hearing on the 19th of March on the topic of "The state of play on the work of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation".

05:36 - 06:42

The coordinators also decided to request an authorization for a FISC mission to Washington D.C. from the 23rd to the 25th of July 2024. The recommendations of the coordinators' meeting of the 13th of February were circulated to all FISC members on the 15th of February. Since no objections have been raised, these recommendations are deemed to be endorsed by the subcommittee. The second announcement is that the interpretation for this meeting is available in the following languages: German, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish, Czech, Estonian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Slovenian, Romanian, and Bulgarian. The next item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes of the meeting of the 23rd of January 2024.

06:42 - 07:09

The minutes were circulated to all members. Can I consider the minutes approved? I see no objections, so the minutes are approved. The next item on the agenda is a public hearing on "Tackling Double Taxation: how to optimize the process?". Double taxation occurs when two or more countries impose taxes on the same income or capital.

07:09 - 07:56

This can happen for various reasons, such as differences in tax laws, conflicting definitions of residence or source of income, or the lack of tax treaties between countries. Double taxation can have a negative impact on cross-border investment, trade, and economic growth. It can also create uncertainty and complexity for taxpayers and tax administrations. To address this issue, countries have developed various mechanisms, such as bilateral tax treaties, the OECD Model Tax Convention, and the EU Dispute Settlement Directive. However, these mechanisms are not always effective or efficient.

07:56 - 08:53

The purpose of this hearing is to discuss the challenges and opportunities for optimizing the process of tackling double taxation. We have invited four experts to share their views and experiences on this topic. I would like to welcome our speakers: Mr. Bert Zuijdendorp, Head of Unit for Company Taxation and Initiatives at the European Commission; Ms. Sarah Perret, Head of the Tax Policy and Statistics Division at the OECD; Mr. Giammarco Cottani, Director of Global Tax Policy at Netflix; and Ms. Krister Andersson, Chair of the Tax Policy Group at BusinessEurope. Each speaker will have seven minutes for their opening statement. After the presentations, we will have a Q&A session with the members.

08:53 - 09:01

I would like to give the floor to our first speaker, Mr. Bert Zuijdendorp. Mr. Zuijdendorp, you have the floor.

09:01 - 09:32

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and good morning to all of you. It's a pleasure to be here and to discuss this important topic of double taxation. As you mentioned, double taxation is a major obstacle to the smooth functioning of the internal market. It creates costs for businesses, it creates uncertainty, and it can also lead to double non-taxation in some cases. The Commission has been working on this issue for many years.

09:32 - 10:18

We have a number of instruments in place, such as the Parent-Subsidiary Directive, the Interest and Royalties Directive, and the Dispute Settlement Directive. However, we also recognize that more needs to be done. In our Communication on Business Taxation for the 21st Century, we announced a number of initiatives to address double taxation. One of these initiatives is the FASTER proposal, which aims to make withholding tax procedures more efficient and secure. Another initiative is the BEFIT proposal, which aims to create a common set of rules for the corporate tax base in the EU.

10:18 - 10:26

We are also working on a proposal for a common framework for the resolution of double taxation disputes.