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UFE - Union of Finance Personnel in Europe

UFE

Die ufe ist die einzige europäische Interessenvertretung der Kolleginnen und Kollegen der Steuer- und Zollverwaltungen aus allen Laufbahngruppen.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Jan Ceyssens (Cabinet of Commissioner Jessika Roswall) and TotalEnergies SE and

22 Jul 2025 · EU environmental policies

Response to Revision of the Union Customs Code

1 Nov 2023

UFE view on the Revision of the Union Customs Code Ever since our foundation in 1963 The Union of Finance Personnel in Europe (UFE) has been the only organisation representing the trade union interests of employees from all ranks and grades of the tax and customs administration authorities of Europe. UFE brings together more than 400,000 members from 40 member unions in more than 20 countries. UFEs membership comprises both EU and non-EU European Tax and Customs officials. See the UFE opinion attached. Florian Köbler President
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Response to Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation (BEFIT)

24 Jan 2023

This is a joint statement of UFE (Union of Finance Personnel in Europe) and CESI to reply to the European Commissions consultation on Business in Europe: Towards a framework for income taxation (BEFIT), UFE, the Union of Finance Personnel in Europe, represents the interests of national tax and customs administration unions at the European level, uniting more than 400.000 affiliates from more than 20 European countries. CESI, the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, brings together more than 40 national trade union organisations from across Europe, with a total of more than 5 million affiliates. CESI represents the interest predominately of civil servants and personnel in the different layers and parts of local, regional, national and European-level administrations and public services.
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Response to Action Plan on the Customs Union

7 Apr 2020

Dear Sir or Madam, thank you very much for the opportunity to give feedback on the Action Plan “Taking the Customs Union to the next level “. On behalf of the Union of Finance Personnel in Europe (UFE), which is the only organization representing the interests and views of 400.000 tax and custom officers throughout Europe, I would like to give feedback as following: UFE welcomes the action plan of TAXUD concerning the future of the customs union. For many years, UFE members have been fighting for the harmonization of custom rules applied within and on the borders of Europe. Unfortunately, if all the European customs administrations enforce the same laws, they diverge not only in the application and in interpretation of these laws, but especially regarding the application of material and human resources entrusted to the civil servants responsible for applying enforcing Customs Law. A customs documentary or physical check does not have the same meaning and intensity throughout Europe, the sanctions in the event of fraud are not harmonized, so the protection of the financial interests of Europe is not identical in every part of the European territory. Our association continues to call for the definition of common rules for controls and sanctions, and continues to demand minimum standards of control. A survey among UFE member unions revealed, that it will be hard to apply common rules, if the number of customs officers per 100,000 inhabitants varies from 7 to more than 70 depending on the Member State and if the number of customs officers per 10,000 declarations varies from 2 to more than 40 per member state. Therefore, UFE would highly welcome a minimum standard in staffing of national custom authorities. We would like to emphasize, that in some countries, custom authorities are also responsible for other tasks than enacting custom laws (eg: the German custom authorities control minimum wages and fight against employment within the shadow economy). There should be a common description of the work of a Customs Officer. The recent terrorist or health risks reinforce the need for a more unified Europe. UFE is calling for integrating into the projects the reassessment of the means of control devolved to OLAF, alongside the development of the European Public Prosecutor. CUSTOMS coordinated controls must be increased in order to avoid member states becoming complacent. UFE considers it very important to highlight the difference between administrations and the divergence of approach in relation to sanctions for customs fraud, intensity of control and most importantly the human and financial resources assigned to customs enforcement and in particular the health and safety of our members. TAXUD can count on the support of UFE and all its affiliated members for any initiative that consolidates the missions and objectives of our professional association of custom and tax officers in Europe. We remain at your disposal to discuss these important projects. Sincerely, Florian Köbler UFE President
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Response to Strengthen the exchange of information framework in the field of taxation.

24 Feb 2020

On behalf of the Union of Finance Personnel in Europe (UFE), which is the only organization representing the interests and views of 400.000 tax and custom officers throughout Europe, I would like to give feedback as following: Digital platform economy In our daily work, we see a lot of fraud in the digital economy. We calculate the loss in tax revenue to be around 15 billion € in Europe. We agree with the European Commission that the digital platform economy is very susceptible to fraud. In some European countries, unilateral laws have been adopted. As an example, Germany adopted such a law at the end of 2018. Already during the adoption process, there is evidence of an increase in Chinese traders registering with the responsible tax administration, “Berlin-Neukölln”. We would like to point out that many criminals have built their own online shops. Tax fraud happens with direct and indirect taxes and customs, as the goods are very often brought “under declared” to the European market. Therefor UFE is calling for better data exchange between tax and custom administrations. Matching Data of Sales and imports. UFE is calling on the European Union to ensure that the operators of electronic marketplaces are obliged to provide information on all their users and that the operator of the electronic marketplace is also liable for any unpaid taxes or duties generated by economic activity facilitated or performed through their electronic marketplace. UFE believes that tax administrations across Europe can use this information to target non-compliant domestic traders who generate domestic taxable sales, but are not registered for tax in the country of their ‘marketplace’. UFE would like to see tax administrations empowered to check whether the traders or users of these electronic platforms have fulfilled their tax obligations and are tax compliant. The operator of the electronic marketplace should record the following for all economic activity by traders and users of their electronic marketplace: • The full name and full address of the delivering trader/seller, • The tax number or sales tax identification number of the supplying trader/seller • The start and end dates of the validity of the proof of the tax registration of the supplying trader/seller • The place of commencement of the transport or shipment, as well as the destination and • The time, amount and euro value of sales The delivering trader should prove to the electronic marketplace operator that he is registered for tax purposes. Therefor an online register should be established. UFE believes that in the digital age that we live in it is not acceptable that these proofs are not provided by digital means. UFE would like to see a system in place throughout Europe where the operators of electronic marketplaces are required by law to submit all data on sales and purchases collected by them to the relevant tax administration. UFE believes that the same new obligations should apply to online payment agencies. UFE’s goal is to ensure that tax compliant businesses can operate in a fair and equitable market place. Honest and compliant businesses will have nothing to fear from these new proposals. UFE believes that honest and compliant businesses will gain in the long term. They will no longer be paying additional tax and duties to cover the gaps left in national tax and duties collection created by criminal and non-compliant businesses. UFE members care passionately about the work, they do and our organization is always available to bring further praxis and insights to the European Commission based on our unique position within Tax and Customs administrations throughout Europe. Sincerely, Florian Koebler UFE President
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Meeting with Pierre Moscovici (Commissioner)

17 Mar 2016 · Discuss the situation of fiscal administrations in Member States