News
CFE Forum 2012 - SAVE THE DATE - Tax law in the light of judgments - the interaction of European law and the national courts
National courts play a crucial role in the application of EU law. Apart from the everyday application of EU law on a case, it is their task to contribute to a uniform interpretation by identifying unclear EU law questions to be referred to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling. For tax practitioners, it is essential to know how a national tax court will apply EU law and when a reference to the ECJ has to be made.
The European Court of Justice´s acte clair doctrine releases a national court from having to refer a case to the ECJ if there can be no reasonable doubts as to the validity and interpretation of EU law. This leaves a wide margin of appreciation to the national courts. The Forum will take a look at how this margin is applied in practice in different EU Member States.
Complexity is added by the fact that principles of EU law are applied differently in tax and Internal Market matters: the ECJ has held that the obligation of the principal to withhold a 15% tax from the payment to servicers of construction work violates the Internal Market freedoms (case C-433/04, Commission vs. Belgium) while in the VAT Directive, a reverse charge may be imposed. The question arises whether a Directive may deviate from the TFEU Treaty as interpreted by the ECJ without violating the Treaty. The limits of such deviation need to be outlined more clearly.
Both subjects will cover direct and indirect tax issues.
More information on the programme will be available soon.
CFE Professional Affairs Conference: New regulatory trends for tax advisers - necessary or not ?
The 4th CFE Professional Affairs Conference took place in Brussels on 29 November 2011. It dealt with regulation of the tax profession at national level and recent developments in EU legislation and ECJ case-law that may impact on regulation.
Speakers from national tax administration, the European Commission and the tax profession discussed benefits and disadvantages as well as Internal Market challenges of regulation to find out how the future regulatory environment for tax advisers will and should look like.
Presentations of the speakers:
- André Bert
- Ian Hayes
- Martin Frohn
- Brian Redford EN DE
- Herbert Becherer
- Dick Barmentlo
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Programme PAC Conference 29 Nov 11_EN.pdf | 138.21 KB |
| Programme PAC Conference 29 Nov 11_DE.pdf | 142.87 KB |
| Report IBFD TNS Kasia Bronzewska.pdf | 30.09 KB |
| Report PAC Conference 2011 RR.pdf | 140.32 KB |
VAT and the Case Law of the European Court of Justice
On 10 February 2012, the Academy of European Law in cooperation with the Barcelona Bar Association organise a conference on "VAT and the Case Law of the European Court of Justice" in Barcelona.
Please find further information on this link.
10th anniversary of the Chamber of Tax Advisers of Russia
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary the Chamber of Tax Advisers of Russia celebrated with more than 400 participants a major event on the 2nd and 3rd February 2012 in Moscow.
Please find attached more information on content of the conference as well as presentations.
Annual International Tax Seminar of Asian Oceania Tax Consultants Association (AOTCA)
The annual International Tax Seminar of Asian Oceania Tax Consultants Association (AOTCA) hosted by the Indonesian Tax Consultants Association (ITCA) took place on 18 November 2011 in Bali, Indonesia.
Stephen Coleclough, President of the CFE, was invited to speak about the "Recent Developments in the OECD".
For more information, please find attached Stephen Coleclough's presentation.
| Attachment | Size |
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| Recent Developments in the OECD presentation.ppt | 409 KB |
The 2012 International Indirect Tax Conference
The 2012 International Indirect Tax Conference organised by the Institute of Indirect Taxation and the Chartered Institute of Taxation will take place on Tuesday 21 February 2012 at the Royal Garden Hotel in London.
Please find attached a full programme and further information.
| Attachment | Size |
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| IIT CIOT conference 2012 - brochure.pdf | 1.11 MB |
Summary of CFE Transfer Pricing Questionnaire released
The CFE has released a summary of the responses to the “CFE Questionnaire on Transfer Pricing Documentation”. The document deals with the question how the CFE countries have implemented the international transfer pricing rules into national law or administrative practices. The reponses were submitted by the members of the CFE Fiscal Committee in 2010.
| Attachment | Size |
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| CFE Transfer Pricing Questionnaire 2010, Summary.pdf | 1.83 MB |
CFE Opinion Statement on the VAT Green Paper
The Opinion Statement is the response to the public consultation on the future of VAT (VAT Green Paper), conducted by the European Commission between December 2010 and May 2011. It has been prepared by the CFE Fiscal Committee.
| Attachment | Size |
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| CFE Opinion Statement on the VAT Green Paper.pdf | 352.4 KB |
CFE is now a Brussels-based international non-profit organisation
By royal decree of 20 May 2011, the "new" CFE has been established as an international non-profit organisation under Belgian law, based in Brussels. The General Secretariat of the CFE remains in Berlin. At the General Assembly of 8 April 2011, all 30 full member organisations of the existing CFE had taken part in the founding ceremony. The CFE was originally established in 1959 by professional organisations of tax advisers from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
| Attachment | Size |
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| CFE MOs_8 April 2011.jpg | 2.28 MB |
CFE FORUM 2011
CFE FORUM on 7 April 2011 in Brussels
on Permanent Establishment
Permanent Establishment is a vital concept in international taxation. While for direct taxes, it is mainly defined by the OECD Model Convention, the European VAT Directive and its implementing Regulation provide an EU-wide approach for VAT.
Difficulties arise as terminology and definitions in indirect and direct tax diverge. Moreover, countries have implemented and interpreted the EU and OECD rules in a different way, impacting on issues like cross-border reorganisations, transfer pricing, taxation of dividends and interest and royalties, tax residence, temporary and permanent transfer of assets, place of supply and VAT liability.
In both direct and indirect tax, the concept of Permanent Establishment has undergone very recent changes: The 2010 changes to the OECD Model Convention and Commentary, and in particular the new Art. 7, will be adopted in national law, as speakers from the Netherlands and Germany will report. The effect of the new definition on treaties with other countries will also be considered.
In indirect tax, the discussion dealt with the practical consequences of the adoption of the Regulation implementing the EU VAT Directive in January 2011.
Presentations Panel 1:
Presentations Panel 2:
Report from the CFE Forum 2011 by Tigran Mkrtchyan for European Taxation, issue 6/2011
| Attachment | Size |
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| CFE Forum_programme_7 April 11_EN.pdf | 221.34 KB |
| CFE Forum_programme_7 April 11_DE.pdf | 218.53 KB |
CFE European Professional Affairs Handbook for Tax Advisers
The Confédération Fiscale Européenne has the pleasure to present his first European Professional Affairs Handbook for Tax Advisers.
Please find attached a press release.
| Attachment | Size |
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| Press Release 2_2010 CFE PAC Handbook.pdf | 74.56999999999999 KB |
CFE elects new officers and welcomes two new full members
The General Assembly of the CFE which took place on 24 September 2010 in Prague re-elected Stephen Coleclough as a President and elected new Executive Board. Also, through the General Assembly the CFE had the pleasure two welcome two new full members, the French professional association "Avocats Conseils d'Entreprises" (ACE) and "Suomen Veroasiantuntijat" (Association of Finnish Tax Professional).
Please find attached a press release.
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| Press Release 1_2010 CFE General Assembly 2010.pdf | 83.48 KB |
Professional Affairs Conference on 1 December 2010
CFE PAC Conference: “A developing relationship: tax authority – taxpayer – tax adviser”
The European Conference on Tax Advisers' Professional Affairs organised by the Confédération Fiscale Européenne (CFE) took place on 1 December 2010 in Düsseldorf/Germany.
The conference addressed the recent efforts of tax administrations to increase compliance of taxpayers through various initiatives that do or do not include tax advisers. Tax authorities in different countries have chosen different approaches such as increasing transparency through additional disclosure obligations, enhanced mutual trust, compliance monitoring by tax advisers or risk management by tax authorities. It seems worth asking whether these new forms of cooperation created to win-win-situations for all parties involved or to what extent they had the effect of preventing taxpayers from making use of their rights.
The half-day conference sought to provide views from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, including both tax administrations and businesses.
Presentations
- Prof. Dr. Axel Pestke
Session 1: Public Administration
- Chris Tailby
- Jean-Pierre Lieb
Session 2: Private Business Sector
- Karl-Heinz Haydl and Matthias Feldt
Session 3: Academical / International View
- Prof. Dr. van Kommer and Anuschka Bakker
Follow this link to view the pictures of the Professional Affairs Conference on 1 December 2011.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| programme_1 Dec 10_EN.pdf | 129.8 KB |
| programme_1 Dec 10_DE.pdf | 132.03 KB |
