Amsterdam, 25/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - In general, the idea of the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU for an automatic exchange of information on VAT fraud went down well with the European finance ministers.
A transaction network analysis tool has been developed in Benelux. The Commission has been asked to carry out a feasibility study on its use at European level. According to Dutch Secretary of State Eric Wiebes, suspicious cases can be detectedusing this tool in just a few days. The Dutch finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that although the majority of member states accepted the idea, a few ministers said that they would like to see the feasibility study first, Germany said that the dossier was the responsibility of the regions and the Czech Republic and Austria called for an entirely different system. According to one source, these two states once again raised the issue of a pilot project for the generalised use of a reverse-charge mechanism.
According to Dijsselbloem, the feasibility study will be ready for the next Ecofin in May, when the Commission's VAT action plan will be discussed.
The French finance minister, Michel Sapin, explained that the Dutch Presidency had linked the debate on VAT fraud to the financing of terrorism. This was made very clear, as the Presidency “described one or two cases in which the Dutch authorities has put an end to carousel fraud and, in one or two cases, this fraud was financing the organisation Islamic State”, Sapin said.
Briefly commenting on the possibility of returning the responsibility for setting reduced VAT rates on certain products to the states, Sapin explained that certain states liked to hide behind the fact that they have no choice in the matter. “I am in favour of solutions which make (them) responsible”, he said. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)