Brussels, 15/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 July, the Commission presented a proposal to postpone the deadline for the submission of VAT refund requests related to 2009. In view of the late implementation by member states of the new VAT refund procedure, which came into force on 1st January 2010, the Commission proposes giving more time to taxpayers to introduce their requests for VAT refunds. At the same time, the Commission proposes harmonising some features of the national VAT refund web portals in order to make them more interoperable and accessible for taxpayers.
The VAT Refund Directive came into force on 1st January 2010 and allows for the refund of VAT on business expenses incurred by taxable persons in a member state in which they are not established. It introduces an electronic system by which the taxable person submits his application for a refund via a web portal developed by the member state in which he is established. Member states were obliged to make this web portal available on 1st January 2010. However, some member states were late in launching their web portals, whilst others have had a number of technical problems in getting them up and running. This has led to a situation in which taxable persons have not been able to submit their refund applications.
Because of these delays, and in order to safeguard the taxpayer's right to deduct VAT, it is necessary to postpone the deadline for submission of refund requests for 2009 expenses from September 2010 to March 2011. In addition, because member states have diverging views on the technical operation of the directive, it is necessary to set up an efficient mechanism to harmonise certain detailed requirements in this area. For this purpose, the Commission proposes that it is granted with the power to adopt - subject to the positive opinion of the Standing Committee for Administrative Cooperation - the technical provisions that are necessary for such a pan-European scheme to be fully interoperable. (O.L.transl.fl