EU law
EU countries agree on rules against VAT fraud
VAT is an important source of income for EU countries. However, they have recently lost money, especially when purchasing digital services. That should change.
New regulations for electronic invoices and online transactions are intended to combat VAT fraud more effectively in the EU. At a meeting in Brussels, the finance ministers of the European Union agreed on a package of measures that will also support companies and promote digitalization. The new rules are intended to adapt the EU’s VAT regulations to the digital age, it said.
Companies currently have to inform national tax authorities about every few months about the goods and services sold to companies in other EU member states that are subject to tax in the respective countries. This opens up a loophole for fraudsters, according to a statement from the EU countries. Because the data is incomplete and not available in real time, authorities cannot quickly detect suspicious or fraudulent transactions. The countries agreed that from 2030, companies will have to report every cross-border commercial transaction in real time via electronic invoices.
New regulations also for Airbnb and Co.
In addition, online platforms for renting apartments – such as Airbnb or Booking – or driving services will in future have to collect VAT directly from customers and pay it to the tax authorities.
The new rules also stipulate that companies trading in different EU states will only have to register once for VAT purposes across the EU. After the EU countries have reached agreement, the European Parliament will now be consulted on the new regulations. They then have to be formally adopted by the Council before they can be published in the EU Official Journal and come into force.
dpa
Source: Stern
