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Taxation and Customs Union

VAT Expert Group (VEG)

A group assisting and advising the European Commission on VAT matters 

The VAT Expert Group advises and provides insights to the Commission on the preparation of new legislative acts and other policy initiatives and on the practical implementation of VAT legislation. 

In addition, following the Commission Decision to dismantle the EU VAT Forum, the VAT Expert Group may also be consulted on practical VAT tax administration issues and good practices. 

The agendas, working documents and minutes of VEG meetings are available on CIRCABC

Members 

The group is composed of individuals appointed in a personal capacity (type A members) with the requisite expertise in the area of VAT, and organisations (type C members) representing, in particular, businesses and tax practitioners that can assist in the development and implementation of EU VAT policies. 

The Commission can give observer status to certain individuals or organisations and, on a case-by-case basis, invite them to attend meetings on issues deemed of particular interest to them. 

The selection of members is done via a call for applications managed by the Commission. The last call for applications for members of the VAT Expert group was published on 5 July 2022. 

On 12 September 2022, the Director-General for Taxation and Customs Union appointed the members of the VAT Expert Group for a mandate of 3 years, starting 1 October 2022. 

Background 

On 6 December 2011, the Commission adopted the Communication on the Future of VAT – Towards a simpler, more robust and efficient VAT system tailored to the single market (COM(2011) 851). This Communication notably indicated that exchanges of views between the Commission and stakeholders would be organised in a permanent, structured and transparent way. 

Accordingly, on 26 June 2012, the Commission adopted Decision 2012/C 188/02 setting up a group of experts on value added tax - the VAT Expert Group. This Decision was amended by Decision 2016/C 245/04 of 5 July 2016 to extend the term of office of the group members to three years. 

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