MGI Malta partner participates in drafting an Option Statement to the EU Commission

Mr. George Farrugia, MGI Malta partner and council member of the Malta Institute of Taxation, in April represented this institute at the Fiscal Committee meeting of the Brussels based Confédération Fiscale Européenne. The CFE is the leading European association of 29 national tax advisory organisations representing over 150,000 tax advisers and is one of the bodies consulted when fiscal measures are being considered by the European Union.

The meeting reviewed the CFE proposals being made to the EU commission on amendments to the Vat Sixth Directive as it relates to Financial services.

The result of this meeting was an Option Statement by the CFE entitled “Modernising Value Added Tax obligations for financial services and insurances” which encourages the commission to review the current provisions of the Sixth Directive as applicable to these industries. Recent economic studies show that the current exempt without credit status for financial services is causing an increase in costs of such institutions which, if saved, could result in a 0.5% deduction on interests charged to clients by banks and other financial institutions. Apart from participating in the discussions at the meeting, Mr. Farrugia was also responsible for review of the final draft submitted in the English language.

Whilst in Brussels Mr. Farrugia also attended the annual taxation FORUM held by the same CFE which this year tacked a number of issues, the most interesting of which was the effect of VAT on charitable institutions.

Read the Option Statement (PDF)