On Tuesday 7 November, the finance ministers of the EU failed to reach a political agreement on the VAT directive on e-commerce.
As anticipated, Germany did not lift its veto. At the meeting, the German minister said that he could accept the measures applicable in 2021, but still had problems with those applicable from 2019. This, he said, is particularly the case concerning the abolition of the VAT exemption for small dispatches with a value of less than €22 from within the EU. European postal services have expressed concern at the lifting of these exemptions, arguing that this would increase their own costs by €1 billion.
Nor is Germany a fan of the principle of the 'one-stop shop'. This is a substantial change in responsibilities, the German minister explained. The other member states would have to take control measures on Germany's behalf and vice versa, he explained. He also essentially said that an agreement would nonetheless be possible under the Estonian Presidency, following subsequent technical work.
The Commissioner for Taxation, Pierre Moscovici, criticised the German position, arguing that its reserves appeared to be of a political rather than a technical nature.
Luxembourg explained that it was in a position to give its blessing on Tuesday, but in light of the German veto, felt that the EU could quite happily wait a month longer to resolve the problems related to the details of administrative cooperation. And as this month will be used to continue the work, Luxembourg would like more clarity on the declaration to be appended to the minutes of the Council calling on the Commission for technical measures on the responsibility of the marketplaces (article 14a).
Slovenia entered a reservation on levying charges on VAT collected by one member state on behalf of another, whilst Latvia said that it supported this.
The EU is now hoping for an agreement in December. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)