Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) are expected to reach a political agreement on Wednesday 3 June on the proposal for a Council Directive amending the 2011 Directive on administrative cooperation to address the urgent need for deferring certain time limits for the filing and exchange of information in the field of taxation due to the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12483/7).
The compromise text of the Croatian Presidency of the Council, dated 28 May and copied to EUROPE, shifts the deadlines proposed by the Commission by 3 months each time, i.e. a six-month postponement compared to the deadlines provided for under the 2011 directive.
It proposes, for example, that the obligation to report by 31 August 2020 for cross-border devices whose first phase was implemented between 25 June 2018 and 30 June 2020 be postponed to 28 February 2021, instead of 30 November 2020, as suggested by the Commission.
The EU Council has largely rewritten and changed the structure of the text. It should be noted that it also provides for "an optional postponement of deadlines", whereas the Commission's text was much more straightforward.
In addition, the EU Council text maintains the possibility of extending the proposed periods, once only and for a maximum of three additional months, depending on the evolution of the pandemic.
However, whereas the Commission proposed that this extension should be by means of a delegated act, the EU Council proposes to take this decision itself, adopting, if necessary, an implementing decision by unanimity.
At the Tax Attachés meeting on 26 May, all delegations supported this compromise text. Adoption of the Directive in the EU Council will be by written procedure. The European Parliament, for its part, has been asked to give its opinion before 30 June, so that the text can enter into force as soon as possible.
E-commerce. Work is slightly less advanced on the Commission's proposal to postpone the entry into force of the legislative package on the modernisation of VAT for cross-border electronic commerce (see EUROPE 11919/3) by 6 months, i.e. to 1 July 2021 instead of 1 January 2021.
According to our information, this proposal is expected to be discussed on Tuesday, 2 June, in the EU Council's High Level Group on Taxation. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)