Whilst Germany shows one of the lowest VAT Gaps in the European Union, there is still room for improvement. That is the conclusion of the state Audit Office which focused in on e-commerce fraud, estimated to cost Germany nearly Euro 1 billion per year.
Read more about German VAT in our national guide.
A recent report by the audit office concluded no reversal in the numbers for online VAT fraud in Germany. Many of the measures that have been introduced, including marketplace obligations, are easily evaded. The office called out a slowness to adopt advance technologies and analytics to quickly identify frauds as they occur, rather than relying on historical VAT returns and statistical filing.
Germany reported €73 billion in online sales in 2019. It has been reported in the past there is just under €1 billion in online VAT fraud per annum. The latest European Union VAT gap estimate – the difference between expected and actual VAT receipts – put German’s VAT deficit at 8.6%.
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