Teresa González Ventín - European Grouping of Territorial Organisation Duero-Douro EGTC, ES - PT

The Advice Case “Double personality is a single reality: working in Portugal and paying taxes in Spain due to legal and/or administrative impediments” submitted by the Duero-Douro EGTC (PT-ES) in the course of the II call for proposals of the initiative b-solutions was selected to receive consultancy by a legal expert with sound knowledge of cross-border matters.

Obstacles of legal and administrative nature were encountered with reference to the hiring of cross-border professionals by the EGTC and specifically with regard to the applicability of taxation and social security rules.

The analysis of Teresa Ventín, the expert contracted by AEBR and assigned to the case, shows that the hurdles are multiple and arise especially because of a lack of administrative coordination between the competent authorities of the two countries and due to some specific provisions included in the current European legal framework.

Solutions proposed by Ventín envisage the engagement of the competent national authorities to clarify and standardize the administrative procedures and activate them also in the border municipalities .

Furthermore, she suggests to submit specific recommendations to the European Commission to acknowledge the difficulties currently faced by the EGTCs in terms of personnel taxation and social security rules.

Finally, to change the Portuguese Social Security legislation for EGTCs is also advised.

To learn more on this Advice Case, the expert’s final report is available here.

The information here provided have been developed in the framework of b-solutions, an initiative of the European Comission’s DG REGIO managed by the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR).

The reports here included are the result of a consultation provided by legal/cross-border cooperation experts on obstacles of a legal or administrative nature– referred to as Advice Cases - selected in the framework of the II Call for Proposals of the initiative b-solutions.