According to a study that was published by the European Commission, there has been a loss of an estimated €177bn in VAT revenues in 2012 because of non-collection or non-compliance …
The European Commission publishes a study confirming billions lost in VAT Gap
According to a study that was published by the European Commission, there has been a loss of an estimated €177bn in VAT revenues in 2012 because of non-collection or non-compliance. This is 16% of the total expected VAT revenue of 26 Member States, i.e.: The EU without Cyprus and Croatia.
Link to the study: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/publications/studies/index_en.htm
Link to the press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-1187_en.htm
Updated list of VAT Contact Points, 5th December 2014
The European Commission has published an updated list of contact points on VAT. Member States have designated contact points with a view to the 2015 changes. These points are set up only to facilitate the contact with national administrations on matters relating to the 2015 changes. Such contact will not automatically bring a solution for potential cases of double taxation.
Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings, 9th December 2014
In a statement on following the ECOFIN Council, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Pierre Moscovici reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to tackling tax fraud and evasion. He confirmed that a legislative proposal on the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings will be published in early 2015.
OECD BEPS Project, BEPS Update, 15th December 2014
The OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration held a webcast on 15 December updating participations on work on the BEPs project. The OECD will publish 6 consultation papers during the week of 15 December, covering:
- Interest deductions and other financial payments
- Transfer Pricing, risk and recharacterisation
- Transfer Pricing Aspects of commodity transactions
- The use of profit splits in the context of global value chains
- More effective dispute resolution
Several questions were asked focusing on the interaction between the UK’s proposed Diverted Profits Tax (the ‘google tax’) and the BEPS project. The OECD was not yet able to comment on the detail of the tax and is still assessing HMRC’s guidance.
Work Programme for 2015
The European Commission will present its work programme for 2015 on 16 December. The Programme is expected to include a commitment to revive the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base.
The Commission is also expected to withdraw two draft directives on taxation where agreement amongst Member States is considered impossible: The proposed Directive on Energy Taxation and the proposed Directive on Motor Vehicle Taxation. The Commission is also reportedly considering withdrawing the proposal to establish a uniform VAT return if Member States continue to make no progress on negotiations.
EU VAT Forum and Expert Groups
The next meetings of the Forum are on 13th January on the TABECFAF and on the 3rd February – discussion on the CBR and for the Expert Group the next meeting is on the 15th of April. Details of all of the work of these two groups of which the IVA is a member will be provided at the Conference in May.
OECD
The next meeting of the OECD’s TAG on Consumption taxes takes place on the 24th to the 26th February – on the agenda is the completion of the work on the Indirect tax aspects of BEPS action point number 1 and the OECD’s Guidelines on B²C supplies of services.
