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November 7, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Teacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The TestKingspan Fine And KKR Charge Put EU Merger Control To WorkMEPs Near First Vote On EU Space Act In Parliament Industry CommitteeMercosur Safeguard Rules Let EU Curb Surges In Car And Goods ImportsMontenegro And Albania Receive EU Accession Roadmaps From CommissionHelsinki Presses Washington Over Paid-For Patriot InterceptorsMeloni Letter Exposes The EU Single Voice Problem On UkraineEmissions Trading Link Defines The EU-UK Summit Agenda For 20 NovemberAddis Ababa Talks Test The EU-African Union Partnership PlanDark Patterns Face Reform As Digital Fairness Act NearsLong-Term EU Budget Talks Face A December DeadlineReturn Hubs Plan Reshapes EU Deportation Rules After DealFishing Sector Gets Vision 2040 Fisheries Strategy With €2bn FloorNominations Open For The Next European Research Council PresidentInvestFrontier Launch Pulls Private Capital Into Humanitarian AidYoung Farmers Targeted By 10 Share In Post-2027 CAP PlanCOP17 Biodiversity Deal Leaves Nature Finance Gap OpenParliament Backs High-Speed Rail Network Linking CapitalsEnergy And Tyre Labelling Gets Simpler Rules In Council MandateEU Defence Readiness Goal For 2030 Slips Despite €418 Billion OutlayTeacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The TestKingspan Fine And KKR Charge Put EU Merger Control To WorkMEPs Near First Vote On EU Space Act In Parliament Industry CommitteeMercosur Safeguard Rules Let EU Curb Surges In Car And Goods ImportsMontenegro And Albania Receive EU Accession Roadmaps From CommissionHelsinki Presses Washington Over Paid-For Patriot InterceptorsMeloni Letter Exposes The EU Single Voice Problem On UkraineEmissions Trading Link Defines The EU-UK Summit Agenda For 20 NovemberAddis Ababa Talks Test The EU-African Union Partnership PlanDark Patterns Face Reform As Digital Fairness Act NearsLong-Term EU Budget Talks Face A December DeadlineReturn Hubs Plan Reshapes EU Deportation Rules After DealFishing Sector Gets Vision 2040 Fisheries Strategy With €2bn FloorNominations Open For The Next European Research Council PresidentInvestFrontier Launch Pulls Private Capital Into Humanitarian AidYoung Farmers Targeted By 10 Share In Post-2027 CAP PlanCOP17 Biodiversity Deal Leaves Nature Finance Gap OpenParliament Backs High-Speed Rail Network Linking CapitalsEnergy And Tyre Labelling Gets Simpler Rules In Council MandateEU Defence Readiness Goal For 2030 Slips Despite €418 Billion Outlay

Brussels Drops Tax Files As 2027 Work Programme Shrinks To 23 Items

Nedim Bajrami
Political Affairs Reporter, Taxation

Berlaymont: The Commission’s 2027 work programme, published on 4 November 2026, contains just 23 initiatives, down from 38 in 2026 and 45 in 2025, and it marks several long-stalled tax proposals for withdrawal. KPMG’s EU Tax Centre said the programme announces no new initiatives specifically on taxation. Its only priority tax item is the Tax Omnibus.

The withdrawals carry the political weight. According to KPMG’s Euro Tax Flash, the Commission will withdraw the 2023 BEFIT proposal on corporate tax rules, the 2023 HOT regime for small and medium-sized enterprises, and the 2018 proposal on taxing a significant digital presence. The Commission has six months to do so, and formal withdrawal still needs publication in the Official Journal.

BEFIT has sat in the Council for about three years without progress, and the digital presence proposal has been pending for more than eight. Tax law needs unanimity among all 27 governments, so a single veto can freeze a file indefinitely. The 2027 work programme effectively admits that these texts will not pass, a point the Commission frames as a call for the "rapid delivery of the key proposals already on the table", as quoted by Norton Rose Fulbright from the communication.

The sources disagree on one detail. Norton Rose Fulbright’s Regulation Tomorrow summary says the 2018 digital services tax proposal is also withdrawn, while KPMG says that proposal is neither withdrawn nor prioritised. The Commission’s own annex is the only way to settle it, so readers should check the official work programme and annexes.

What survives in the 2027 work programme is narrower. The Tax Omnibus and the recast of the directive on administrative cooperation came out on 24 June 2026, and governments have set a political goal of agreeing them by the end of 2027. The optional EU Inc. corporate framework also stays on the priority list, and Coreper agreed the Council’s negotiating mandate on 23 October 2026. That framework creates no EU corporate tax system, though it covers the taxation of qualifying employee stock option plans.

Financial services fare differently in the 2027 work programme. Norton Rose Fulbright reports a Banking Simplification and Competitiveness Package planned for the first quarter of 2027, alongside a mid-term review of the Savings and Investments Union. The European Deposit Insurance Scheme, pending for ten years, is also due to be withdrawn and replaced by the banking proposals. The Energy Taxation Directive revision, under negotiation since 2021, appears in neither the withdrawal list nor the priorities, according to KPMG.

For businesses, the message is mixed. Fewer proposals mean fewer new compliance rules, but the retreat from common corporate tax rules leaves companies facing 27 national systems for years. Anyone expecting a harmonised tax base from Brussels should plan around that gap, as the 2027 work programme offers nothing to fill it before the next Commission mandate.

Three markers will show the real effect. The Official Journal notices will confirm which tax files disappear, Council talks on the Tax Omnibus will test whether unanimity is reachable by end-2027, and the first-quarter banking package will show where the Commission now puts its energy. Until then, the 2027 work programme reads as a shorter, more selective plan that gives up on the hardest tax fights.

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