Technical Committees
Fiscal Committee
CFE’s Fiscal Committee is comprised of two Sub-Committees: the Direct Taxes Subcommittee and Indirect Taxes Subcommittee, which focus on monitoring and responding to developments in tax policy and tax law at both European and international level. The Fiscal Committee aims to provide members with a cohesive view of the current state of affairs in tax policy by providing detailed analyses and updates concerning the work of the EU, OECD and UN.
Member and observer organisations nominate delegates who attend the Fiscal Committee’s technical meetings and are contacted on a regular basis concerning developments in taxation policy. The views communicated to CFE by those delegates concerning the developments are then represented in CFE’s Opinion Statements and outreach work in both European and international tax fora.
Professional Affairs Committee
The Professional Affairs Committee engages in the policy areas that concern and affect the exercise of the tax advisory profession. By way of submitting position papers and engaging with the European Commission and the OECD, the Professional Affairs Committee advances the CFE Board priorities that concern the tax advisory profession at large.
In the past year, the Professional Affairs Committee participated in many initiatives at EU and OECD level that aim to contribute to the ongoing policy debate and to voice the concerns of European tax advisers. Apart from partaking in ongoing discussions with the EU Commission in different policy areas, the Professional Affairs Committee regularly responds to various EU and OECD questionnaires and also drafts technical updates of relevance for tax advisers which are aimed at informing the members of recent developments.
The work of the Professional Affairs Committee broadly covers issues such as: ethics and professional codes, anti-money laundering, reporting of tax avoidance schemes, cooperation with tax authorities, digitalisation of tax services, taxpayers’ rights, tax certainty, professional qualifications and regulation, liability and insurance, cross-border mobility, business structures of tax firms, client confidentiality and legal privilege.
Tax Technology Committee
The Tax Technology Committee (TTC) was established in 2018 as a response to the manifest importance of digital taxation and technology and its applications in taxation both now and for the foreseeable future. In this regard, the TTC has a different approach to tax and technology, being devoted to digital transformation and all its ramifications for tax.
The committee operates in a horizontal rather than a vertical way. This means that, upon identifying the topics the Committee feels are important to address, each subject is then headed up by project leader with a small operational team and report on the subject to the Committee, which thereafter makes recommendations for further action and progress of the working group.
The Tax Technology Committee is in particular focused on the role professionals handling tax in all manifestations will have and the risks and opportunities posed to them by the development of technology and the increasingly direct interaction between taxpayer and revenue authorities.
New Tax Professionals ad hoc Committee
The New Tax Professionals (NTP) Ad Hoc Committee was formally established during the CFE General Assembly held in Torino on 04 October 2019. The NTP Ad Hoc Committee was formed to represent new tax professionals from within CFE Tax Advisers Europe, allowing them to better understand how different Member Organisations work, promote relevant issues in their jurisdictions and build a cross-border network of the future generation of tax leaders. The Committee considers new tax professionals someone within their first 10-15 years of practice (or 10-15 years of membership of the Member Organisation).
The New Tax Professionals Ad Hoc Committee enables the representation of the views of newer members to the CFE, and facilitates the sharing of knowledge, information and experience between delegates within the CFE and the NTP. The Committee also aims to help provide potential future delegates and Committee members for the CFE and Member Organisations, through helping to increase understanding of the CFE, and increasing the visibility of future leaders to those who are currently part of the CFE leadership.