EU Parliament backs member states’ reduced VAT rate freedoms – can now enter EU law The European Union Parliament has backed this month Finance Ministers’ agreement on extended reduced VAT rate setting powers. Member states may now commence incorporating into EU law once gazetted. The
Rollover of reverse charge to fight fraud until December 2025 The European Commission is proposing to allow member states to continue to use optional VAT reverse charge measure to fight fraud. It intends to rollover the existing measures until 31 December 2025. This includes application
The European Commission is proposing to give member states the freedom to waive Value Added Tax on defence spending. This is part of a wider range of measures to promote and support coordinated defence spending amongst the member states. This would be tied to collaboration
Anti-VAT fraud initiatives get Parliament vote The European Parliament voted on 16 February 2022 in favour of harmonising pan-EU e-invoicing and supporting the adoption of the definitive VAT system reform to: facilitate cross-border interoperability; ensure legal compliance; increase transparency in commercial transactions; and limit fraud
Overcharged import VAT recovery via IOSS return proposal The European Commission (EC) has proposed a solution to the problem of double taxation arising on the new Import One-Stop Shop process for declaring VAT on imports not exceeding €150. It suggests allowing sellers or deemed supplier
Tax subsidies for domestic power and foodstuffs as inflation hits new highs A fast-growing queue of European countries are emerging to cut their already reduced VAT rates on domestic energy. Energy price rises in January 2022 were the biggest contributor to the rise in Eurozone inflation
New German government rekindles interest in VAT regime reforms shifting the place of taxation on B2B intra-community supplies of goods to destination-based taxation The new German coalition government has committed to supporting a stranded EU VAT regime reform which would shift the obligation to charge
European Commission proposal to give its VAT Committee legal interpretative status – comitology – update In December 2020, the European Commission provided detailed proposals to give its VAT Committee the right to rule on certain aspects of the EU VAT Directive. This would give it
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) experimenting with a payment tracking and blockchain technologies to help combat Value Added Tax fraud. Blockchain to combat EU VAT fraud The EC is looking at how shared ledger blockchain could be used to enhance the
