Strategizing Multinational Tax Risks

Tax Fraud: Commission looks at how VAT collection and administrative cooperation can be improved

Today (12 Feb.) the Commission adopted two reports which shed more light on problems linked to fighting Value Added Tax (VAT) fraud within the EU, and which identify possible remedies. The first report looks at VAT collection and control procedures across the Member States, within the context of EU own resources. It concludes that Member States need to modernise their VAT administrations in order to reduce the VAT Gap, which was around €193 billion in 2011. (see IP/13/844) Recommendations are addressed to individual Member States on where they could make improvements in their procedures.

The second report looks at how effectively administrative cooperation and other available tools are being used in order to combat VAT Fraud in the EU. It finds that more effort is needed to enhance cross border cooperation, and recommends solutions such as joint audits, administrative cooperation with third countries, more resources for enquiries and controls and automatic exchange of information amongst all Member States on VAT. Both reports are part of the broad Commission Action Plan to fight against tax fraud and evasion (see IP/12/1325), and can be found online on the European Commission’s Taxation and Customs Union website .

Click to access com(2014)71_en.pdf

Click to access com(2014)69_en.pdf

It is interesting to compare developments on topics such as joint audits, automatic exchange of information, and tax controls with that of the OECD and UN for corporate income tax.  The reports provide a valuable reference in regards to VAT developments in the EU, which are observed by non-EU countries for Best Practices.