The European Parliament has adopted its position for opinion on a proposal for a Directive amending the VAT Directive (2006/112) to ensure a smooth transition to the new value added tax (VAT) regime for electronic commerce, which will enter into force in January 2021 (see EUROPE 12212/36).
MEPs approve the new responsibilities for market platforms such as Amazon or eBay. In particular, in order to facilitate the calculation by tax administrations of the amount of VAT due, these electronic platforms will be required to keep data relating to sales made using their interfaces, even when sellers located outside the EU have not fulfilled their tax obligations.
The European Parliament also supports the changes made to the initial proposal by the Member States in order to clarify which State has administrative competence in a specific vote. The same applies to the identification of the online platform playing a specific role in a sale and which ultimately has to ensure that VAT is collected.
It is estimated that the total loss to Member States in terms of uncollected VAT revenue from e-commerce amounts to €5 billion per year. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)