The national tax authority have delivered some guidelines concerning the rules on the place of supply of electronic and broadcasting services and the collection of the VAT related to such supplies with the MOSS system …
Circular Nr. 22 of 26 May 2016 on the place of supply of TBE services within the MOSS scheme
The national tax authority have delivered some guidelines concerning the rules on the place of supply of electronic and broadcasting services and the collection of the VAT related to such supplies with the MOSS system.
The first part of the document clarifies the rules settled with Regulation 1042/2013, in particular nature of the supplies involved in that scheme. Moreover there is some indication on the application of the legal presumption settled for the localisation of the customer and as a consequence in which Member State Vat is due.
The national practice reports the most important elements of the explanatory notes delivered by the EU Commission. By the administrative act, the non-binding guidelines provided by the Commission achieve a sort of implementation in the national legal order having been recognized as a practice.
The second part of the same document as well provides guidance on the rules governing the functioning of the MOSS in Italy as implemented by the Legislative Decree 45/2015. The circular explains in detail which is the legal base of the implementing national law (i.e. the Articles of the VAT directive) and its rationale.
The most innovative part of that document is point 18 which is dedicated to the clarification of the audit and assessment activity carried out by the Italian tax administration with regard to tax collection through the MOSS. In that part there is the complete explanation of the national rules on that activity and their compatibility with EU tax law.
This document provides legal certainty at national level to the interpretation provided by the EU Commission on such rules, therefore foreign businesses should rely on the general rules also for the supplies carried out with an Italian counterparty (business or consumer).
Prof. Paolo Centore
