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European VAT News

European VAT News – August 2018

By August 15, 2018July 10th, 2021No Comments

In Austria the standard VAT rate is 20%. Two different reduced VAT rates (10% and 13%) are also applied….

Austria – please see a correction from our previous Newsletter!

In Austria the standard VAT rate is 20%. Two different reduced VAT rates (10% and 13%) are also applied.

Since 1 May 2016 the VAT rate applied on hotel accommodation has risen from 10% to the higher reduced VAT rate of 13%. With effect from 1 November 2018 this increase is cancelled and the reduced rate of 10% will apply.

For more information please contact Fiebich & PartnerInnen (AT), www.fiebich.com; email address: [email protected].

Denmark

The National Tax Tribunal has decided that VAT must be charged as from the first time that it is clear that the company will exceed the threshold of 50,000.00 DKK.

Finland

Effective from 1 January 2018, importers are obliged to file a VAT return, even if no VAT is due.

Germany

Effective from 1 January 2019, the German Federal Ministry of Finance repealed the tax authorities’ previous simplification regulation for the so-called ‘intra-Community movement of own goods in the border area’. From that date, foreign traders will no longer be able to report an intra-community movement of own goods with a subsequent domestic supply instead of a direct intra-community supply. Also, the final abolition of this simplification regulation will mean that German VAT incorrectly charged on such supplies will no longer be deductible by the recipient.

Greece

On 19 December 2017, the Greek Ministry of Finance issued a Press Release by virtue of which, an extension was granted for the application of the reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) regime (a 30% reduction in rates compared to the standard VAT rates) until 30 June 2018 for the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros, all affected by the refugee crisis. The extension for the application of the reduced VAT regime in these specific Aegean islands, announced on 19 December, was ratified by article 74 of Law 4509/2017, published in the Government Gazette on 22 December 2017, while Ministerial Circular POL 1009/2018 was subsequently issued on 16 January 2018 with notification of the respective provision. 

The reduced VAT rates were originally intended to apply until 30th June 2018 but this has now been extended to 31 December 2018

Hungary

From January 2019, the Hungarian tax authorities are proposing to introduce a number of changes to their VAT legislation, these changes include – the adoption of the new EU VAT rules for the treatment of single and multi-purpose vouchers. 

The local domestic reverse charge mechanism used to curb VAT fraud, will be extended to apply to the supply of steel and grain products. 

Netherlands 

From 1 January 2019, the Dutch tax authorities will increase the reduced VAT rate from 6% to 9%.

This reduced VAT rate applies to a number of different goods and services including accommodation, foodstuffs, pharmaceutical products, domestic passenger transport and books (excluding e-books).

Slovenia 

The Slovakian tax administration has announced that entities performing distance sales from Slovenia are required to include these in their Intrastat declarations as dispatches of goods. In the case of sales made to Slovenia customers (private individuals), if they exceed 35,000 EUR, the supplier needs to charge Slovenian VAT and include the sales as arrivals in the Intrastat declaration. 

The above information was kindly provided by: