On Wednesday 2 October, the European Union and Norway signed an agreement to amend the existing cooperation agreement on aspects of administrative cooperation, combating fraud and assistance in the recovery of claims in the field of value added tax (VAT). The new agreement will provide the partners with new tools for cooperation (see EUROPE 13389/26).
The agreement establishes the legal framework for cooperation between the EU Member States and Norway. These include the spontaneous and automatic exchange of information and feedback, assistance with administrative notifications, participation in administrative enquiries, simultaneous controls and Eurofisc, the network of anti-fraud experts, which enables Member States to jointly process VAT data and exchange early warnings of suspected VAT fraud activities. In the area of claims recovery, these are requests for recovery, requests for enforcement and requests for precautionary measures.
“The EU and Norway enjoy a unique and close partnership. Today marks an important step to fight VAT and tax fraud. This demonstrates the power of regional cooperation”, commented the Norwegian ambassador to the EU, Anders Eide, in a press release.
The initial EU-Norway Agreement on administrative cooperation in the field of VAT entered into force on 1 September 2018. This was the EU’s first international agreement in the field of VAT cooperation. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)