22/07/2020 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 22 July, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12505/6), the Council of the EU formally approved the decision to postpone for six months the date on which the legislative package on the modernisation of VAT for cross-border e-commerce is due to enter into force. The new rules will therefore apply from 1 July 2021 instead of 1 January 2021. This package of measures, the aim of which is to make it easier to sell and buy goods online from abroad, was adopted in 2017 (see EUROPE 11919/3). It should also enable Member States to recover the billions of euros of VAT they lose each year on online sales, ensuring that businesses in non-Member States do not receive preferential treatment when selling to EU consumers. The European Parliament was only consulted on taxation matters and was of the opinion that a postponement of only three months would be sufficient (see EUROPE 12525/15). The decisions adopted can be found at: https://bit.ly/2WNbP0R and https://bit.ly/39nedQP (MF)