The European Savings Taxation Directive goes live at the beginning of next month. WealthBriefing takes a look at a detailed study by The Eur...

The European Savings Taxation Directive goes live at the beginning of next month. WealthBriefing takes a look at a detailed study by The European Banking Federation, which looks at where each country in Europe stands in implementing the Directive. The EBF has produced a detailed analysis of each country’s laws as related to the directive and where they are to be found.

1. Has country laid primary statute under Art 17(1) of Directive? What are the references/dates? Is it available on the internet?

Austria: Law implementing the savings tax directive was published on 27th April 2004 in the official journal (BGBL 33, Teil I) Restricted access on the Internet via “Rechtsdatenbank”.
Belgium: Yes. The date of the Belgian law: 17th May 2004, published in the of. cial State Gazette (Moniteur belge – Belgisch Staatsblad - Belgisches Staatsblatt) of 27th May 2004. Web reference of the French version: http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/article_body.pl?language=fr&caller=summary&pub_date=2004-05-27&numac=2004003213
Czech Republic: Law No 586/1992, §38fa, 1.5.2004. Official version only available in Czech
Cyprus: The Assessment and Collection of Taxes (Amendment) Law of 2004, 146(I)/2004, enacted by the House of Representatives and published in the Government Gazette 3851, Schedule III(I), 30.4.2004 provides for the enabling section for the implementation of the EUSD. It is available on the internet in Greek only, www.mof.gov.cy.
Denmark: The Directive is implemented as a part of draft bill L 119, which was adopted by the Danish Parliament on 30 March 2004: http://www.folketinget.dk/Samling/20031/lovforslag_som_vedtaget/L119.htm Unfortunately, it is only available in Danish.
Estonia: Estonian parliament passed necessary amendments to the Income Tax Act on May, 20 2004. In principle, texts of Estonian legislative acts are translated and published at http://www.legaltext.ee For the moment, the amendments to the Income Tax Act are not translated yet.
Finland: Only minor amendments have been needed in primary legislation due to the current reporting procedure very much in line with the Directive. The Directive is implemented as a part of Government bill 137/2003, which was adopted by the Finnish Parliament on 30th December 2003. Unfortunately, it is not available in English.
France: The directive has been transposed on December the 30, 2003 enclosed art. 24 of the French corrective Finance Bill for 2003, n° 2003-1312, 30/XII/03 published in Journal Official on December the 31. Date on enforcement has been changed to take into consideration the postponement of directive (corrective finance bill for 2004 to be voted on December).
Germany: YES: “Zinsinformationsverordnung” of 26 January 2004 http://www.bundes. nanzministerium.de/Anlage23752/Zinsinformationsverordnung.pdf Greece: On the 9th of February 2004, the Greek Parliament issued Law 3312/2005 implementing the E.U Taxation on Savings Directive. The relative links of the Greek version are the following (only Greek version is available right now): http://www.parliament.gr/ergasies/nomosxedia/EisigisiEpitropon/A-FORTO-EIS.pdf http://www.parliament.gr/ergasies/nomosxedia/Tropologies/338/a-forto.238.pdf The relevant law implements as well 1) the Council Directive 2003/93/EC concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the . eld of direct and indirect taxation, 2) the Council Directive 2003/49/EC on a common system of taxation applicable to interest and royalty payments made between associated companies of different Member States and 3) Council Directive 2003/92/EC of 7 October 2003 amending Directive 77/388/EEC as regards the rules on the place of supply of gas and electricity. The Parliament has also issued some provisions concerning the planning of the European Framework Programs.
Hungary: The law implementing the saving taxation directive was adopted as the Schedule No. 7 to Act XCII of 2003 by the Hungarian Parliament on 19th April 2004 and was published in the Official Journal on 26th April 2004. The Hungarian version is available at the Ministry of Finance website: http://www.penzugyminiszterium.hu The English version appeared in some printed buyable professional journals and a special CDROM. Please see the English formula of the Schedule No. 7.
Ireland: The Directive was transposed by section 90 of, and Schedule 4 to, the Finance Act 2004 (No.8 of 2004). (The Act may be found at http://www.gov.ie/bills28/acts/2004/a804.pdf). A number of amendments to this legislation, including changing the date of application, have been proposed in the Finance Bill 2005 published on 1 February 2005. The Finance Bill 2005 is available at: http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2005/0105/b105d.pdf The Bill is expected to become law by the end of March 2005.
Italy: Yes. The legislative decree implementing the Directive has been approved by the Council of Ministers on 24 March 2005.
Lativa: Amendment drafts are prepared in Law on Credit institutions and Law On Taxes and Fees. Available. The drafts are in process of inter-ministerial co-ordination. Texts available only in Latvian (Amendments in Law On Taxes and Fees on www.mk.gov.lv/index.php/.les/0/18311.doc and Amendments in Law On Credit institutions on www.mk.gov.lv/indexphp/les/0/4188.doc )
Lithuania: The Directive is implemented in the Law on Tax Administration (was adopted on April 13, 2004) and in the Law on Tax on Income of Individuals (the amendments were adopted on April 29, 2004). The relevant legal acts are available at the webside www.lrs.lt. Unfortunately the provisions of these legal acts, which implement the Directive, have not been translated into English or French yet.
Luxembourg: In December 2004 the Parliaments Commission for Budget and Finance appointed a Rapporteur. The draft bill was discussed during January 2005. The Government will accept some minor changes in the February 2004 draft. Vote by the Parliament is scheduled for April.
Malta: Yes. A new enabling Article 52 B was incorporated in the Income Tax Act. This can be accessed on website reference: http://docs.justice.gov.mt/lom/legislation/english/leg/vol_4/chapt123.pdf
Netherlands: Yes. Law of 18 December 2003 (Wet implementatie spaarrenterichtlijn, Staatsblad 531, published on 29 December 2003).
Poland: Poland laid primary stature under art 17. The act is approved on 20th April 2004 and was valid since 1.01.2005. On the webside is available only in Polish.
Portugal: Yes. It is the Decree-Law nr. 62/2005, published on 11 March 2005 in the Of. cial Journal. It is available on the internet, but only with restricted access and only in the Portuguese version.
Sloviakia: SR implemented into its domestic law a part of provisions of Council Directive no. 2003/48/ES on Saving Taxation Directive. This obligation arose to SR not as from the January 1, 2004 as it is appointed in the Art. 17 (1) of the Directive, but from the date of admission of SR to the EU (May 1, 2004). SR tried to achieve transition period in order to apply the mentioned Directive but it did not succeed. Provisions of the Directive were implemented into legislation during year 2004 (in September 2004 they were submitted at negotiations at National Council of SR within the scope of amendment of Income Tax Law no. 595/2003 Col. as amended later regulations, some consequential provisions in the Tax Administration Law no. 511/1992 Col. Amendment of the Income Tax Law no. 595/2003 was approved on October 26, 2004 by the National Council of SR – valid as from January 1, 2005 – has not been published in the Law Collection yet.) Exchange of information according to the art. no. 8 and 9 of the Directive is amended in the Tax Administration Law no. 511/1992, paragraph 32 sec. 15. Versions in other languages are not available yet.
Spain: Yes, it was included in Article 1.Tercero of the Law 62/2003 of December 30, available at Internet in the following web: http://www.aeat.es/descarga/ley62_2003.pdf. The only legal provision that was considered necessary to be introduced was the recognition of withholding applied by Belgium, Luxemburg and Austria on interest paid to Spanish individuals as a deductible item from the Spanish Income Tax.
Sweden: In the end of March 2005 the Swedish Government presented a Government bill for the final implementation of the directive. However, only minor amendments are needed in the Swedish law since the current reporting system ful. ls most of the requirement in the directive. The new legislation is expected to be decided by the Parliament in the beginning of June. The legislation is only available in Swedish.
UK: Finance Act 2003 section 199, Finance Act 2004 sections 107-115
These can be found at
www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030014.htm
www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/200300142.htm

Non-EU member European Countries

Isle of Man: No. In draft
Liechtenstein: A special working group has elaborated a draft law to the attention of the Liechtenstein Government. Its content is similar to the Swiss “Zinsbesteuerrungsgesetz, ZBStG”.
Norway: Tax matters are in general outside the scope of the EEA agreement. On this background Norway is probably not bound by the EEA agreement to implement the savings taxation Directive. The question of whether or not to implement the Directive in to domestic law on a volunteer basis has so far not been raised by the Norwegian authorities. We are therefore not able to answer the questionnaire.
Switzerland: YES: Both the Agreement between Switzerland and the EC and the respective national law ‘Zinsbesteuerungsgesetz’ were adopted by the Swiss Parliament in December 2004.The website reference is http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/sr.html. The deadline for a potential referendum (demand for a public vote) expires unused on March 31, 2005. Hence, the Swiss legislation for the implementation of the savings taxation can come into force without any changes or delays as of July 1,2005.