Considerations on COM(2023)340 - Authorisation of Germany to derogate from Articles 218 and 232 of the VAT Directive - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2023)340 - Authorisation of Germany to derogate from Articles 218 and 232 of the VAT Directive. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2023)340  |
| date | July 25, 2023 |
(2)By letter registered with the Commission on 8 February 2023, Germany specified that the requested date of entry into force of the special measure is 1 January 2025.
(3)Pursuant to Article 395(2), second subparagraph, of Directive 2006/112/EC, by letters dated 22 February 2023, the Commission transmitted the request made by Germany to the other Member States and, by letter dated 23 February 2023, it notified Germany that it had all the information necessary for the appraisal of the request.
(4)Germany intends to put in place the mandatory electronic invoicing for transactions between taxable persons established in Germany as a first step in the implementation of a transaction-based reporting system. Such reporting system would provide benefits in combatting value added tax (VAT) fraud and evasion. It would allow an earlier identification of VAT fraud chains by the tax administration and would also enable the tax administration to carry out timely and automatic verifications of the consistency between the VAT declared and the VAT due. In the case of discrepancies, the system would allow for their early detection and checking. Furthermore, Germany expects that the timely access to invoice data would obviate the need for a more bureaucratic request for invoices by the tax administration, speeding up and facilitating the fight against VAT fraud.
(5)Germany considers that the introduction of mandatory electronic invoicing would not be very burdensome for businesses as, in Germany, mandatory electronic invoicing is already common practice in many sectors of the economy and is mandatory in the field of public procurement. Furthermore, it would benefit economic operators through the digitalisation of processes and the reduction of their administrative burden. The use of electronic invoices would provide long-term savings due to the elimination of paper invoices, thereby reducing the costs of issuing, sending, processing and storing invoices.
(6)On 8 December 2022, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC as regards VAT rules for the digital age 11 . The proposed amendments set out in the Directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC would amend Article 218 and delete Article 232 of Directive 2006/112/EC, allowing Member States to implement mandatory electronic invoicing, and eliminating the need to request further derogations from Directive 2006/112/EC in order to implement such systems. Therefore, from the date Member States are to apply any national provisions that they are required to adopt in the event that that directive is adopted, this Decision would no longer have any useful effect.
(7)Given the broad scope and the novelty of the special measure, it is important to evaluate its impact on combatting VAT fraud and evasion and on taxable persons. Therefore, if Germany considers that an extension of the special measure is necessary, it should submit to the Commission, together with the request for extension, a report including an assessment of the special measure concerning its effectiveness in fighting VAT fraud and evasion and in simplifying VAT collection.
(8)The special measure should not affect the right of the customer to receive paper invoices in case of intra-Community transactions.
(9)The special measure should be limited in time to allow for an appraisal to be carried out of whether it is appropriate and effective in light of its objectives.
(10)The special measure is proportionate to the objectives pursued since it is limited in time and scope. In addition, the special measure does not give rise to the risk that fraud would shift to other sectors or to other Member States.
(11)The special measure will not negatively affect the overall amount of tax revenue collected at the stage of final consumption and will have no adverse impact on the Union’s own resources accruing from VAT.