Accommodation services will benefit from the application of the reduced VAT rate of 10%, effective as from 1 November 2018…
Austria
Accommodation services will benefit from the application of the reduced VAT rate of 10%, effective as from 1 November 2018.
Belgium
The Belgian Constitutional Court has recently ruled in favour of the abolition of VAT on the income from online gambling and games of chance.
Bulgaria
The Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court held that the sale of goods for a price several times under the respective value, which in the case under consideration was lower than the purchase price, constitutes indeed a supply for no consideration.
Moreover, considering that the respective input VAT was deducted, such transactions must be deemed as being a for consideration case in which the taxable base cannot be lower than the purchase price.
The court ruled that in such circumstances the tax authorities can impose an additional VAT assessment concerning the supply for no consideration carried out.
VAT treatment on consignment stock
The Bulgarian Tax Authority clarified that supplies on consignment stock should be accounted for upon the transfer of the goods to the stock. This also applies in the cases where both parties agreed to a transfer of ownership:
– at the time of the removal;
– at the time of invoicing; or
– at the expiry of a maximum storage period.
France
Effective as of 1 January 2018, the interest rate on tax arrears and tax credit refunds has been reduced from 0.4 % to 0.2 % per month.
Greece
From 1 January 2019, Greece is proposing to introduce a new mandatory real time invoice- reporting regime that will apply to all companies that sell to the public sector and limited liability companies (“LLC’s”).
If introduced this new regime will require all businesses making these types of supplies, to declare the invoices to the Greek tax authorities at the same time as they are issued to the customer. The customer will then electronically confirm receipt of the invoice with the tax authorities directly.
It is hoped that this new invoice-reporting regime will prevent common errors on these types of invoices and also prevent VAT fraud in the country. If successful it will then be extended to all taxpayer transactions from January 2020.
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man Government just introduced the Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme, which requires businesses to be registered namely in the following cases:
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Businesses that store any goods imported from outside the EU or on behalf of someone outside the EU; and
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When goods are on sale and have not been sold previously in the Isle of Man.
Italy
Changes were introduced with regard to the Italian VAT refund legislation, which are applicable to VAT refunds claimed with regard to 2017 or the first quarter of 2018.
Following the new rules, entities providing guarantees to obtain VAT refunds are entitled to be compensated at a rate of 0.15% of the guaranteed amount when:
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the statute of limitations period for the issuance of the related adjustment or assessment notice ends; or
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the tax authorities definitely recognized the right to VAT refund.
Poland
From 1 July 2018, Poland will introduce a voluntary anti-VAT fraud split payment regime.
Once introduced the split payment procedure will allow customers to pay the VAT amount of a sale directly into a special supervised bank account, while paying the net amount directly to the supplier. The tax authorities can then monitor the bank account and make withdrawals in order to settle the supplier’s VAT liability.
Spain
As of 1st January 2019, the Immediate Supply of Information System (SII) will also be effective in the Canary Islands. Additionally, from 1 July 2018 there will be new fields and codes to report.
Sweden
The Swedish Tax Agency has released clarifications on the application of the VAT exemption, currently applicable to Swedish companies with (1) annual net sales lower than SEK 30 000 and (2) with a turnover that has not exceeded this threshold in the two preceding fiscal years.
With respect to newly established companies, the assessment of the threshold must be based on future sales and must be adjusted for tax years that are not equal to 12 months.
Guidance about commercial shipping activities
The Swedish tax authorities have issued guidance on the application of the VAT exemption on commercial shipping activities, indicating to which activities this exemption exclusively applies.
The above information was kindly provided by:
– Fiscal Solutions (UK), www.fiscalsolutions.co.uk; contact: [email protected]
– VAT Systems (France), www.vatsystems.eu; contact: [email protected]
