Title |
Public consultation on the functioning of the administrative cooperation and fight against fraud in the field of VAT |
Policy fields |
Taxation |
Target groups |
This open public consultation seeks the views of business, the public and representatives organisations. |
Period of consultation |
From 02.03.2017 to 31.05.2017 |
Context of the consultation |
On 7 April 2016 the Commission adopted an Action Plan on VAT - Towards a single EU VAT area. The Action Plan provides clear orientations towards a robust single European VAT area in relation to the definitive VAT system for cross-border supplies. In view of such reform other aspects of VAT will have to be examined, such as the administrative cooperation and the fight against VAT fraud, the existing special rules for small enterprises (SMEs) and the VAT rates which can be applied by Member States. Hence the Action Plan also sets out actions to enhance administrative cooperation and Eurofisc and adapt the VAT system to the needs of SMEs. It proposes options for a modernised policy on EU rules governing VAT rates. Some of the initiatives stemming from the Action Plan have already been presented by the Commission, while others are being prepared (for a timeline of all the proposals contained in the Action Plan, see p.14 of that document). As part of the ongoing work, public consultation procedures have been or will be launched in respect of the following legislative proposals:
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Objective of the consultation |
Although the administrative cooperation and the fight against VAT fraud mainly concerns tax administrations, it also affects the situation of businesses and citizens in the EU. VAT fraud affects the national and EU budgets and therefore can negatively impact the amount of resources available for public policy objectives. To combat cross-border VAT fraud, Member States are forced to implement additional reporting obligations and checks for cross-border trade which can hamper the proper functioning of the single market. Businesses are also directly concerned by the administrative cooperation arrangements as they provide the means to check the validity of VAT identification numbers of businesses established in other Member States, the ‘VIES on-the-web service’. Furthermore, businesses can be audited on the basis of information or requests from other Member States. The Commission aims to update the rules governing the administrative cooperation and the fight against cross border VAT fraud with a view to improve the functioning of the single market and tackling the heavy losses to the Member States and EU revenues. This administrative cooperation assistance is currently governed by Council Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 of 7 October 2010. The purpose of this consultation is:
Tax administrations will have their say via a specific questionnaire. |
How to submit your contribution | ||
Respondents are offered an online questionnaire via the EU Survey Application which is available at the link below. Responses are submitted through that application. Translations of the questionnaire into Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish are available. | ||
View the questionnaire | ||
Contact details | ||
responsible service | Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, Unit TAXUD/C4 – Tax administration and fight against tax fraud | |
postal address | Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union | |
View the contributions | ||
In the interests of transparency, organisations have been invited to provide the public with relevant information about themselves by registering in the Interest Representative Register and subscribing to its Code of Conduct. If the organisation is not registered, the submission is published separately from the registered organisations. | ||
Results of consultation and next steps | ||
