Implementing regulation 2012/79 - Detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Council Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 concerning administrative cooperation and combating fraud in the field of VAT (recast) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 29/13

To improve and supplement the instruments to combat fraud, Council Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 of 7 October 2003 on administrative cooperation in the field of value added tax and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 218/92 (2) has been recast and repealed by Regulation (EU) No 904/2010. The rules as they can be found in Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 should be reflected at the level of the acts implementing Regulation (EU) No 904/2010.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1925/2004 of 29 October 2004 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 concerning administrative cooperation in the field of value-added tax (3) has been substantially amended. Since further amendments are to be made following the adoption of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 and in order to have a single set of rules on the exchange of information it should be recast in the interests of clarity together with Commission Regulation (EC) No 1174/2009 of 30 November 2009 laying down rules for the implementation of Articles 34a and 37 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 as regards refunds of value added tax under Council Directive 2008/9/EC (4).

In order to facilitate the exchange of information between Member States it is necessary to specify the exact categories of information to be exchanged without prior request, as well as the frequency with which those exchanges are to be made, and the relevant practical arrangements. To the extent that Member States intend to abstain from such exchange, they should notify it to the Commission in accordance with Article 14(1) of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010.

Pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 information shall be communicated between tax authorities as far as possible by electronic means. Consequently, the practical arrangements and technical details should be laid down.

Practical arrangements should be determined for the provision of information relating to invoicing rules, value added tax (VAT) rates applicable in the context of the special schemes applicable to non-established taxable persons and the additional electronic coded information referred to in Article 9(2) of Council Directive 2008/9/EC of 12 February 2008 laying down detailed rules for the refund of value added tax, provided for in Directive 2006/112/EC, to taxable persons not established in the Member State of refund but established in another Member State (5).

In order to ensure that Member States are able to effectively make use of the possibilities to require the information foreseen by certain provisions of Directive 2008/9/EC, it is necessary to specify the relevant harmonised codes to be applied when exchanging the relevant information, including the means through which such exchange should take place, in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 904/2010.

Article 9(2) of Directive 2008/9/EC provides that the Member State of refund may require the applicant to provide additional electronic coded information supplementing the codes set out in Article 9(1) of Directive 2008/9/EC, to the extent that such information is necessary due to any restrictions on the right of deduction under Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (6), or for the implementation of a derogation received by the Member State of refund under Article 395 or 396 of that Directive.

Pursuant to Article 48(2) of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010, the competent authorities of the Member State of refund are to notify by electronic means the competent authorities of the other Member States of any information required by them under Article 9(2) of Directive 2008/9/EC.

For that purpose, the technical details for the transmission of the additional information required by Member States under Article 9(2) of Directive 2008/9/EC should be determined. In particular, the codes to be used for the transmission of this information should be specified. The codes set out in Annex III to this Regulation have been developed by the Standing Committee on Administrative Cooperation (SCAC) on the basis of the information required by Member States for the purposes of applying Article 9(2) of Directive 2008/9/EC.

Applicants may be required according to Article 11 of Directive 2008/9/EC to provide a description of their business activity using harmonised codes. For that purpose, the commonly used codes provided for in Article 2(1)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains (7) should be employed.

Article 25 of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 states that the requested authority shall, at the request of the requesting authority, notify the addressee of all instruments and decisions emanating from the administrative authorities and concerning the application of VAT legislation in the Member State in which the requesting authority is established.

Where a Member State of refund requests the Member State of establishment to notify the applicant of its decisions and instruments for the purposes of the application of Directive 2008/9/EC, for reasons of data protection, it should be possible that such notification be made via the common communication network/common system interface (CCN/CSI) as defined in Article 2(1)(q) of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010.

Rules should be laid down implementing, inter alia, Article 48 of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 as regards the introduction of administrative cooperation and the exchange of information concerning the rules relating to the place of supply of services, the special schemes and the refund procedure for value added tax.

Finally, it is necessary to establish a list of the statistical data needed for the evaluation of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Administrative Cooperation,

information on non-established traders;

information on new means of transport.

information on the allocation of VAT identification numbers to taxable persons established in another Member State;

information on VAT refunds to taxable persons not established in the Member State of refund but established in another Member State pursuant to Council Directive 2008/9/EC.

information on supplies exempted in accordance with Article 138(2)(a) of Directive 2006/112/EC, of new means of transport as defined in Article 2(2), (a) and (b)of that Directive, by persons regarded as taxable persons pursuant to Article 9(2) of that Directive who are identified for VAT purposes;

information on supplies exempted in accordance with Article 138(2)(a) of Directive 2006/112/EC, of new vessels and aircraft as defined in Article 2(2), (a) and (b) of that Directive, by taxable persons identified for VAT purposes, other than those referred to in point (a), to persons not identified for VAT purposes;

information on supplies exempted in accordance with Article 138(2)(a) of Directive 2006/112/EC, of new motorised land vehicles as defined in Article 2(2), (a) and (b) of that Directive, by taxable persons identified for VAT purposes, other than those referred to in point (a), to persons not identified for VAT purposes.

the request for notification referred to in Article 25 of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 and the instrument or decision of which notification is requested;

original documents provided pursuant to Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010.

the information on storage of invoices listed in Annex II;

the additional electronic coded information required by Member States pursuant to Article 9(2) of Directive 2008/9/EC;

until 31 December 2014 the standard tax rate referred to in the second paragraph of Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010;

as from 1 January 2015 the tax rate applicable for supplies of telecommunication services, broadcasting services and electronically supplied services referred to in the second paragraph of Article 47 of Regulation (EU) No 904/2010.

In what other circumstances are invoices required?

If required, are the invoices simplified invoices or full invoices?

Is an invoice required for exempted financial and insurance services?

If yes, is a simplified or full invoice required?

For which, if any, exempt supplies is an invoice not required?

Is there a time limit for issuing invoices other than that for intra-Community supplies or cross-border supplies of services subject to the reverse charge?

If yes, by when must an invoice be issued?

Can summary invoices be issued for supplies becoming chargeable to tax during a period of more than 1 calendar month? This excludes intra-Community supplies and cross-border supplies of services subject to the reverse charge.

If yes, what is the time period?

Is there a requirement for self-billed invoices to be issued in the name of and behalf of the taxable person making the supply?

Are any conditions imposed on outsourcing of invoices to third parties established outside the EU?

If yes, what conditions are imposed?

Other than for intra-Community supplies of goods or reverse charge supplies is the customer’s VAT identification number required on the invoice?

If yes, in what circumstances is the customer’s VAT identification number required on an invoice?

Where the VAT amount is converted to the national currency using the exchange rate from the European Central Bank, is notification required?

Is a VAT identification number issued if the supplier or customer does not make intra-Community acquisitions, distance sales or intra-Community supplies?

Where both a VAT identification number and a tax reference number are issued, in what circumstance is one or both required to be mentioned on the invoice?

Are there any conditions for electronic invoices issued from a third country?

If yes, what are those conditions?

In what circumstances are simplified invoices allowed?

What details are required for simplified invoices?

If the place of storage is outside the Member State, is the notification of the place of storage required?

If yes, how is this notification to be done?

Can paper invoices be stored outside the Member State?

What are the periods of storage for invoices?

Can paper invoices be stored electronically?

Can electronic invoices be stored in paper form?

Must the data guaranteeing the authenticity of the origin and integrity of the content of invoices stored electronically be kept in the case when e-signatures or EDI are used?

Can invoices be stored in a third country?

If yes, are there any conditions?

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1925/2004

(OJ L 331, 5.11.2004, p. 13)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1792/2006

(OJ L 362, 20.12.2006, p. 1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1174/2009

(OJ L 314, 1.12.2009, p. 50)