Facing the challenges

Prepare for FASTER

The FASTER Directive is designed to change the fragmented EU withholding landscape streamlining withholding tax procedures, harmonize tax processes across member states, and support cross-border investments within the EU

FASTER could herald a new era in withholding tax

The directive presents significant challenges, particularly in digital transformation, for financial institutions, tax authorities, and tax technology providers. The recent approval of the FASTER directive by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council marks a significant milestone. Although many facets of FASTER are still under refinement until 2028, discernible trends and needs have already surfaced.

UPDATE

EU Member States reach political agreement on FASTER Directive

For the financial industry, the FASTER directive necessitates making significant investments to drive forward digital transformation efforts.

FACTSHEET

A perspectival outlook

Discover challenges and opportunities for banks, tax authorities, investors and technology providers

OUR FASTER SOLUTION

Even if FASTER defines a basic standard, the implementation of the member states will be highly heterogeneous. The RAQUEST Solution is ideally prepared for this by being able to respond flexibly to the respective technical and procedural requirements towards the authorities. Within the environment of the financial institution, we guarantee clear and simple implementation through homogeneous technology, processes and interfaces.

REPORTING TO MEMBER STATES

Support for direct reporting by intermediaries and indirect reporting along the payment chain.

Digital application OF eTRC

Support of digital application of eTRCs to the member states and integration into the process.

Relief at source, Quick REFUND and Standard Refund

Support of quick relief procedures for different member states (Relief at Source and Quick Refund). Additionally, Standard Refund is (still) supported for cases where the quick procedures are not feasible.

RAQUEST AND STTI

Rely on market-proven solutions

Our FASTER solution build on the proven products RAQUEST and STTI. RAQUEST integrates data from upstream systems and processes it in a standardized and audit-proof manner. STTI supports the digital interfaces of the tax authorities of member states and intermediaries in the payment chain.

FASTER

Key Facts

OBJECTIVE

The European Commission plans to introduce a standardised EU-wide system of withholding tax relief, accompanied by an exchange-of-information and cooperation mechanism among tax administrations.

TIMINGS

The FASTER directive requests the tax administrations of the 27 member states to transpose the directive into national legislation by December 31, 2028 and to implement the directive from January 1, 2030.

Documentation and due diligence

Every EU market will have to design and build an electronic tax residency certificate (eTRC) system capable of issuing a digital certificate of tax residency with three days to individuals or entities. ETRCs will be valid for the year in which they are issued and will need to be renewed.

CFI Registers

Under FASTER, every EU market must establish a national register of certified financial intermediaries (CFIs) who are authorised to act as withholding agents. To simplify the registration procedure, a European Certified Financial Intermediary Portal will be created and act as central dedicated website, where the national registers will be accessible.

Source country-reporting

With FASTER, every CFI that grants tax relief to an investor must report dividend distributions to the source country’s tax administration within 20 days so that the source country tax administration can recreate the payment chain. Dividend payments of under €1500 will be exempt from reporting.

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