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4 days ago | 
bloomberg.com | Saim Saeed |Ewa Krukowska
Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. A nationalist candidate backed by President Donald Trump won Poland’s presidential election, defeating the centrist mayor of Warsaw in a blow to the the country’s current government. Karol Nawrocki, a historian and former boxer who has made clear his core Catholic values while railing against migration and the EU’s efforts to fight climate change, took 51% of the vote.
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1 week ago | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Saim Saeed
The European Commission will recommend eliminating tax hurdles for remote workers in startups in a bid to make the bloc more business-friendly. In a so-called Startup and Scaleup Strategy published Wednesday, the commission said it will publish a non-binding proposal next year meant to incentivize startup employees working remotely.
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1 week ago | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Saim Saeed
Businesses welcome a plan being considered by EU countries to battle shell companies through existing law rather than a separate bill, but warn about increased complexity and administrative burdens. EU countries tentatively support folding certain provisions of the so-called Unshell bill into a law aimed at identifying aggressive cross-border tax planning, known as DAC6. But with the DAC6 law itself under fire from businesses and tax practitioners, countries want to see the fine print first.
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1 week ago | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Saim Saeed
The American Chamber of Commerce to the EU urged the bloc Wednesday to “pursue the quick resolution” of transatlantic differences related to the global minimum tax. Resolving issues related to the tax would “minimise uncertainty for the numerous European and American businesses operating across the Atlantic and maximise Europe’s growth during this period,” trade group CEO Malte Lohan said in a letter to the EU’s tax chief, Wopke Hoekstra.
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1 week ago | 
news.bloomberglaw.com | Saim Saeed
EU countries backed a Polish proposal to largely reject a European Commission bill to tackle shell companies for tax purposes, according to people familiar with the matter. Instead, the countries asked the commission to revise an existing law that enables EU tax authorities to share information on potentially harmful practices.
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1 week ago | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Saim Saeed
EU countries Tuesday approved a significant overhaul of the bloc’s carbon border tax regime that would exempt smaller importers. Countries backed the European Commission’s proposal to exempt businesses who import less than 50 tonnes per year, and simplify reporting procedures for those importers who will still be subject to the rules. The levy, known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, or CBAM, is a carbon price on imported industrial goods with high greenhouse gas emissions.
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1 week ago | 
news.bloomberglaw.com | Saim Saeed
A group of 15 finance ministers are urging the European Commission to update the EU’s excise tax rules to include new products like heated tobacco and e-cigarettes. In a letter dated May 26 and seen by Bloomberg, the finance ministers representing countries including France, Germany and the Netherlands, demanded Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “take without delay the necessary steps in order to update” the bloc’s tobacco tax rules.
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2 weeks ago | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Saim Saeed
The European Parliament on Thursday approved a bill that would overhaul the EU’s carbon border tax, known as the carbon border adjustment mechanism. The bill, known as the Omnibus I Simplification Package, would exempt 90% of the importers that were in the initial scope of the CBAM, including small- and medium-sized enterprises, while still capturing 99% of carbon emissions from imports of steel, iron, aluminum, cement and fertilizers.
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2 weeks ago | 
news.bloombergtax.com | Saim Saeed
The European Commission has a “very wide toolbox” to use in its effort to simplify the bloc’s tax code, an official said Wednesday. Speaking on a panel at a European Economic and Social Committee hearing, Bert Zuijdendorp, the commission’s head of unit for company taxation, said “no options are off the table” and that the commission is already considering a number of recommendations sent by EU countries and companies alike.
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2 weeks ago | 
news.bloomberglaw.com | Saim Saeed
A French minister urged EU officials to consider new sources of revenue, including taxes, to fund its next budget cycle. French Minister Delegate for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said Wednesday “we cannot continue to avoid this debate,” referring to the EU’s commitment to explore new direct sources of revenue, known as own resources.
