European Union finance ministers on Tuesday agreed new rules designed to help investors get refunded more quickly when they are unfairly double-taxed in EU countries.
The rules will apply to EU residents who invest in a different EU country from the one they live in, and end up getting taxed in both for the interest and dividends. While current rules allow them to claim a refund, the process can be slow and bureaucratic, and differs between countries.
Under the new rules agreed on Tuesday, EU countries would be required to either apply the appropriate tax rate in the first place or refund the overpayment within a certain period of time. Ministers also hope the simpler rules will reduce fraud.
"It will make investing in other countries easier and hopefully encourage retail investors in particular to invest on European financial markets, which will eventually benefit the whole economy," Belgian Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem said in a press release.
Though ministers agreed on the rules on Tuesday, they have to wait for the European Parliament to issue a non-binding opinion on their agreement before they can adopt it as law. That will likely take a few months, at least, since the parliament is not due to meet again until July, following the June 6-9 elections.
In the meantime, the text of the rules will also be reviewed and polished.
