Considerations on COM(2023)329 - Authorisation of Romania to derogate from Articles 218 and 232 of the VAT Directive - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2023)329 - Authorisation of Romania to derogate from Articles 218 and 232 of the VAT Directive. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2023)329  |
| date | July 25, 2023 |
(2)By letter registered with the Commission 30 September 2022, Romania informed the Commission that the requested derogation from Article 178 of Directive 2006/112/EC is no longer required. Further, Romania requested the authorisation to be granted for a period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026, instead of the period originally requested.
(3)By letters dated 8 December 2022, the Commission transmitted the request made by Romania to the other Member States. By letter dated 9 December 2022, the Commission notified Romania that it had all the information necessary to consider the request.
(4)Romania submits that mandatory electronic invoicing for transactions between taxable persons established in Romania, coupled with the obligation to report the data on those transactions to the tax administration, would provide benefits in combatting value added tax (VAT) fraud and evasion. It would allow the tax administration to carry out a timely and automatic verification of the consistency between the VAT declared and paid and the invoices issued and received, which would significantly improve the analytical capabilities of the Romanian tax administration. Further, the introduction of mandatory electronic invoicing would be a powerful tool for real-time tracking of VAT fraud chains, allowing tax authorities to take immediate action to identify and stop traders participating in such fraudulent activities.
(5)Romania considers that the introduction of mandatory electronic invoicing will also benefit economic operators through digitalisation of processes and the reduction of administrative burden, while at the same time ensuring a fair competitive environment for taxable persons. The digitalisation of processes would entail faster payments, savings on transmission costs, fast and cheap processing of invoice data, and reduced archiving costs for taxable persons. The introduction of the mandatory electronic invoicing system would lead to the removal of the current obligation to report information on domestic supplies, reducing the administrative burden for economic operators.
(6)On 8 December 2022, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC as regards VAT rules for the digital age 9 . The proposed amendments will amend Article 218 and delete Article 232 of Directive 2006/112/EC, allowing Member States to implement mandatory e-invoicing, 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. Pursuant to that proposal, without prejudice to certain transitional provisions, the transmission of electronic invoices will no longer be subject to a prior mandatory authorisation or verification by the tax authorities. Romania intends to require, as a first step, a verification by the tax administration of the correctness of the invoice before the electronic invoice can be considered valid. Nevertheless, Romania is to make the necessary adaptations to the system to allow taxable persons, by 31 December 2025, to send the necessary data to the tax administration without the invoice being subject to a prior verification. As a result, the prior verification of invoices by the tax administration will become optional for taxable persons.
(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, where Romania 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 the 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 the case of intra-Community transactions.
(9)The special measure should be limited in time to allow an appraisal to be carried out of whether it is appropriate and effective in light of its objectives.
(10)The special measure is therefore 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.