21/12/2016 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 21 December, the European Commission published its legislative proposal establishing criteria to allow member states to apply a generalised reverse-charge mechanism for value-added tax (VAT), if they so choose. As we reported, the derogation would be authorised for member states with a VAT gap representing five percentage points more than the median European VAT gap. A second criterion set in place by the Commission is that the level of so-called 'carousel' fraud must represent at least 25% of the VAT gap. Finally, the country must establish that conventional measures are insufficient to tackle this type of fraud (See EUROPE 11692). (EL)