Nearly one in two employees would like to continue teleworking and Europe has an interest in avoiding conflicts between states over business and personal taxes, says the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Photo: Shutterstock

Nearly one in two employees would like to continue teleworking and Europe has an interest in avoiding conflicts between states over business and personal taxes, says the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Photo: Shutterstock

The European Economic and Social Committee has proposed that the European Union should allow, at least on a provisional basis, 96 days of telework in Europe so that companies and teleworkers are not in a complicated tax situation. However, there is a small “but”.

Four years after its first report on the need for the European Union to embrace technological change, one of the Swedish members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Krister Andersson, has pushed forward a new recommendation on telework.

: that the EU should test a uniform 96-day telework model per year to ensure that companies and individuals subject to income tax are in a secure environment and that the EU should set up a one-stop-shop on telework that allows companies to declare their employees' telework.

46% of employees want to continue teleworking

In other words, employees should not have to declare their income in the country where they work and in the country where they reside, and companies should not be bothered with their permanent place of establishment, the country where they generate income.

This idea is technically possible, says the Swede, a member of the EESC employers' group as head of his company Intare AB, based on the OECD's multilateral convention to implement tax treaty related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of workers and businesses. A  shows that 46% of EU employees want to continue to work from home every day or several times a week when the pandemic ends,” he said on his fact sheet before the adoption of his text.

It is a pity that the rapporteur did not explicitly address the issue of social security affiliation, deplored Idea Foundation economist Vincent Hein on LinkedIn, pointing out that the number of days does not go without the other dimension.

Seven Luxembourgers out of 329 members

The three major institutions of the European Union (the Commission, the Parliament and the Council) are not obliged to follow the opinions of the EESC, which includes seven Luxembourgers out of 329 members elected until 2025: - head of economic affairs at the Chamber of Commerce Christel Chatelain,

- honorary president of the Federation of Craftsmen (Fédération des Artisans) Norbert Geisen,

- president of the FNCTTFEL Guy Greivelding,

- outgoing president of the Federation of employees and former president of the OGBL Jean-Claude Reding,

- advisor of the chamber of employees (CSL) and member of the LCGB central committee Marco Wagner,

- administrator of Luxembourg’s farmers association Marie Josianne Willems,

- and president of the Chamber of Civil Servants and Public Employees Romain Wolff.

This article was originally published in French by . It has been translated by Delano.