Directive 2014/48 - Amendment of Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 111/50

Council Directive 2003/48/EC (3) has been applied in the Member States since 1 July 2005 and proved effective during its first three years of application, within the limits set by its scope. However, it appears from the first Commission report of 15 September 2008 on its application that it does not fully measure up to the ambitions expressed in the conclusions adopted unanimously by the Council in its meeting of 26 and 27 November 2000. In particular, certain financial instruments which are equivalent to interest-bearing securities and certain indirect means of holding interest-bearing securities are not covered.

In order better to achieve the aim of Directive 2003/48/EC, it is necessary first to improve the quality of information used to establish the identity and residence of beneficial owners. In this regard, the paying agent should use both date and place of birth and, if any, the tax identification numbers or equivalent allocated by Member States. Directive 2003/48/EC does not impose an obligation on Member States to introduce tax identification numbers. In this regard, information with respect to joint accounts and other cases of shared beneficial ownership should also be improved.

Directive 2003/48/EC applies only to interest payments made for the immediate benefit of individuals resident in the Union. These individuals may thus circumvent Directive 2003/48/EC by using an interposed entity or legal arrangement, especially one established in a jurisdiction where taxation of income paid to this entity or arrangement is not ensured. Having regard also to the anti-money laundering measures laid down in Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4), it is therefore appropriate to require paying agents to apply a ‘look-through approach’ to payments made to certain entities or legal arrangements established or having their place of effective management in certain countries or territories where Directive 2003/48/EC or measures to the same or equivalent effect do not apply. Those paying agents should use the information already available to them about the actual beneficial owner(s) of such entities or legal arrangements to ensure that Directive 2003/48/EC is applied when the beneficial owner so identified is an individual resident in a Member State other than the one where the paying agent is established. In order to reduce the administrative burden on paying agents, an indicative list of entities and legal arrangements in the third countries and jurisdictions concerned by this measure should be drawn up.

Circumvention of Directive 2003/48/EC through artificial channelling of an interest payment via an economic operator established outside the Union should also be avoided. It is therefore necessary to specify the responsibilities of economic operators when they are aware that an interest payment made to an operator established outside the territorial scope of Directive 2003/48/EC is made for the benefit of an individual, known by them to be a resident of another Member State and who can be considered to be their customer. In such circumstances, those economic operators should be considered to be acting as paying agents. This would also in particular help to prevent a possible misuse of the international...