STANDARD VAT RETURN WITHIN THE EU FROM 2017
29 October 2013
In a press release of 23 October 2013, the European Commission published its proposal for a Directive introducing a ‘Standard VAT return”.
The proposal aims to allow all businesses to provide standard information in a common, preferably, electronic format. This should help reducing the administrative burden for businesses, improve VAT compliance and reduce the loopholes that can be used for tax evasion purposes.
Harmonisation
The proposal lists a maximum of 26 information boxes, of which 5 will be mandatory, to report:
- The chargeable VAT;
- The deductible VAT;
- The net VAT amount;
- The total value of input transactions;
- The total value of output transactions.
The Member States will therefore have up to 21 boxes to inquire on additional information.
The content of the 26 information boxes will be the same in every EU Member State.
In addition, the Commission proposes to harmonise the periodicity of the returns: monthly filing with an optional quarterly period for micro businesses (annual turnover not exceeding EUR 2,000,000). Member States may allow longer periods up to one year.
VAT would become due by the end of the month following the VAT return period.
The annual listing is said to be abolished.
Language
The VAT return will still have to be submitted in the language of the country of submission. Since the content of the information boxes will be the same in every EU Member State, it will not be too difficult to understand what is expected.
Next steps
The enactment of the proposed measures requires an amendment of the EU VAT Directive and subsequent transposition into national legislation.
Contact
Should you have any further questions on this subject, please contact your usual BDO adviser or you may send an email to [email protected] for the attention of one of the members of the Competence Center VAT:
- Erwin Boumans, 02/778.01.00
- Pascal Dauw, 09/210.54.10
- Kaatje Bondewel, 02/778.01.00
- Brigitte Braeckmans, 03/230.58.40
- Joëlle Teuwen, 081/ 20.87.87
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