EU: Tax Working Party to review tobacco tax directive reforms

04 September, 2025

The indirect taxation subgroup addresses taxation issues, including VAT, excise duties, energy taxation, financial transaction tax, and administrative cooperation.

The Working Party on Tax Questions (Indirect Taxation), a preparatory body of the Council of the European Union, released the provisional agenda on 3 September 2025, for its meeting set to take place on 17 September 2025.

The working party prepares the ECOFIN Council and follows tax issues and non-tax files to ensure consistency in the Council’s work on these matters. It is responsible for the preparation and monitoring of multilateral negotiations on tax policy, both within the EU and at the international level. It also prepares Council conclusions on tax policy and biannual ECOFIN reports on progress made in the tax area for submission to the European Council.

The working party has three subgroups: High Level, Indirect Taxation, and Direct Taxation.

The Indirect Taxation subgroup focuses on taxation matters, particularly in areas such as value-added tax (VAT), excise duties (e.g., alcohol and tobacco), energy taxation, financial transaction tax (FTT), and administrative cooperation.

The provisional agenda includes the discussion of the following topics:

1. The Presidency’s priorities regarding the proposal for a Council Directive on excise duties applied to tobacco and tobacco-related products,

2. Proposal for a Council Directive on the structure and rates of excise duties applied to tobacco and tobacco-related products (Tobacco Taxation Directive):

a) Impact Assessment Report