Considerations on COM(2025)4 - Authorisation of Greece to derogate from Articles 218 and 232 of the VAT Directive - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2025)4 - Authorisation of Greece to derogate from Articles 218 and 232 of the VAT Directive. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2025)4 |
| date | January 13, 2025 |
(2) In accordance with Article 395(2), second subparagraph, of Directive 2006/112/EC, the Commission transmitted Greece’s request to the other Member States by letters dated 24 September 2024. By letter dated 25 September 2024, the Commission notified Greece that it had all the information necessary for the appraisal of the request.
(3) Greece has in place a digital platform called myDATA. Entities obliged to keep accounting records under the Greek legislation must transmit income and expense transaction data to this platform. The implementation of mandatory electronic invoicing will allow that the data from electronic invoices directly feed the myDATA platform. As a result, the information will arrive in real time and with a high level of quality, making it easier and faster for the tax administration to detect cases of non-declaration or under-declaration of VAT. Further, it will help the tax administration in the fight against circular or ‘carousel’ fraud, allowing the identification of the parties involved within a shorter time.
(4) Greece considers that implementing mandatory e-invoicing will not be too burdensome for taxable persons, as it is already common practice in many sectors of the economy and it is becoming mandatory in the field of public procurement. Furthermore, electronic invoicing will make issuing prefilled VAT returns easier and will allow taxable persons to comply with more than one reporting obligation at once, which will reduce both errors and administrative costs. According to Greece, the costs for business due to the adaptation to electronic invoicing should be compensated by the reduction of the costs associated with the issuing, sending and storing invoices compared with the current situation, and by the benefits for taxable persons resulting from the improvement of their processes though digitalisation.
(5) 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 age2. By means of that Directive, the Commission proposes to amend Article 218 and delete Article 232 of Directive 2006/112/EC. The Council, in the ECOFIN meeting of 5 November, reached a general approach on the proposal and will re-consult the European Parliament before formally adopting the proposal. Once adopted, the proposal will enable Member States to implement mandatory electronic invoicing, hence eliminating the need to request further special measures to derogate from Directive 2006/112/EC. Therefore, from the date Member States will be required to apply any national provisions transposing the proposed Directive, this Decision should cease to apply.
(6) The special measure should not affect the right of customers to receive paper invoices in the case of intra-Community transactions.
(7) 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 shift to other sectors or to other Member States.
(8) 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.