How would the scheme actually be established, if some Member States are interested?
The Commission suggests using the existing mechanism of double-taxation treaties to implement the pilot scheme. Interested Member States should thus enter into appropriate negotiations, prepare and conclude a bilateral or, preferably, multilateral agreement allowing interested companies to participate in the Home State Taxation pilot scheme. If they so wish, support and assistance for these efforts would be available from the Commission services, possibly via the Commission’s FISCALIS programme of training for tax officials. The Member States concerned should then implement the agreement domestically, in accordance with their national laws and practices. A bilateral agreement could usefully take the form of a protocol supplementing the relevant double-taxation treaty, and multilateral agreements should be concluded in an intergovernmental convention. This way of proceeding would make sure that the pilot scheme could be introduced relatively quickly and in a flexible manner, while fully
