Brussels, 11/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 May, the European Commission unveiled planned changes to the VAT system to introduce a uniform system in 2015 for all categories of payment cards and vouchers across the EU. Vouchers is an expanding market, worth more than €52 billion a year, around 70% of which is prepaid telephone cards, followed by gift vouchers and discount vouchers, for which companies have to deal with a range of different national VAT systems. The variety of systems is holding back the full expansion of the market and causing double taxation problems, making it difficult to collect VAT. When a voucher is issued in one member state and used in another, it is difficult to decide exactly when, if and where services and goods should be taxed.
To deal with such problems, the new directive will harmonise the definition of vouchers for VAT purposes, and will decide when the vouchers should be taxed depending on the type of voucher (which will determine whether VAT is to be levied at the point of sale of the voucher itself or when the voucher is used to buy goods and services). The draft directive will make a clear distinction between vouchers and other means of payment (prepaid telecoms credit and mobile payment services, for example, are taxed differently). It will lay down common rules for the sale of vouchers by intermediaries, especially in other countries, determining the tax rules that shall apply at the various stages of sale. The legislation includes technical measures on deductions, exchange and reimbursement, cash and other obligations incumbent upon companies. (FG/transl.fl)