From 1 January 2018, non-resident e-commerce businesses who provide goods online, can avoid the obligation to VAT register in Slovakia…
Slovakia
From 1 January 2018, non-resident e-commerce businesses who provide goods online, can avoid the obligation to VAT register in Slovakia if:
- They purchase goods from other businesses in other EU member states (EC acquisitions) with the intention of making a subsequent intra-community supply (EC Sale) or export of the goods to customers outside of Slovakia
- They make distance sales to consumers in other EU member states where the goods are taxable in the other country.
Currently, foreign companies must VAT register in both of these scenarios however, from January 2018, they will instead be able to appoint a tax representative who will be responsible for the VAT reporting in the country.
Where the non-resident business is already VAT registered in Slovakia or making other taxable supplies in the country, they will not be able to use this simplification.
The above information was kindly provided by Fiscal Solutions (UK), www.fiscalsolutions.co.uk; contact: [email protected].
Poland
From 1 January 2018, the mandatory requirement to submit Standard Audit Files (SAF-T) in Poland will be extended to include all companies.
This requirement has been a mandatory requirement for large enterprises since July 2016 and was introduced in an effort to prevent VAT fraud.
SAF-T is a way for the tax authorities to exchange VAT data with businesses in a more secure, accurate and efficient way. These files are already in use in several other EU countries including Portugal, Austria, Luxembourg, France and Lithuania (although the format and content are not always the same).
Norway
The Norwegian tax authorities look likely to delay the implementation of mandatory SAF-T files until at least 2019.
Last month the Norwegian tax authorities indicated that they plan to make the standard audit file (SAF-T) reporting mandatory for all businesses from 1 January 2018. However, changes to the legislation governing this have yet to be proposed and are now unlikely to be in place to meet the 2018 deadline.
The SAF-T file was introduced on a voluntary basis in the country from January 2017 and is a way for the tax authorities to exchange VAT data with businesses in a more secure, accurate and efficient way. These files are already in use in several EU countries including Poland, Portugal, Austria, Luxembourg, France and Lithuania (although the format and content are not always the same).
Italy
The Italian government have announced the following VAT rate increases in their recently published stability budget.
Standard VAT rate
- Will increase from 22% to 24.2% from 1 January 2019
- A further increase to 24.9% from 1 January 2020
- A further increase to 25% from 1 January 2021
Reduced VAT rate
- Will increase from 10% to 11.5% from 1 January 2019
A further increase to 13% from 1 January 2020
Hungary
From 1 January 2019, the Hungarian government is proposing to increase the country’s VAT registration threshold from HUF 8 million to HUF 12 million (approx. £23K to £34k).
This registration threshold only applies to resident companies, as non-resident companies must immediately VAT register if they are undertaking taxable sales in Hungary.
Belarus
Belarus is set to extend its Value-Added Tax (VAT) system to cover digital services supplied by non-resident (foreign) companies from 1 January 2018.
At present, foreign businesses providing digital services in Belarus do not have to charge VAT on their sales. However, in an effort to remove the unfair advantage this gives to non-resident companies over Belarus resident providers, the Belarus government has now announced that VAT at 20% will be applied on these types of transactions from 1 January 2018.
This new tax will be applied to a range of electronic services including streaming games, music, apps, films, e-books, e-journals and internet services.
