At its plenary session in Brussels on Thursday 14 November, Parliament approved the revision of the implementing regulation on the common system of value added tax (VAT) by 621 votes to 10, with 11 abstentions. This revision will enable the introduction of an exemption certificate in electronic format confirming that a transaction is eligible for a specific exemption.
The rapporteur, MEP Aurore Lalucq (S&D, French), had not proposed any amendments to this text due to the highly technical nature of the initiative, its non-controversial content and the need to improve digital interactions between administrations (see EUROPE 13496/18). The shadow rapporteurs approved this decision and the vote under the simplified procedure on Monday 14 October.
The text will eliminate the administrative burden and costs associated with processing the VAT exemption certificate’s paper version. The implementation costs will be covered by the Fiscalis programme within its foreseen financial envelope in the current Multiannual Financial Framework. The costs for Member States, mainly related to providing access to the central application, are expected to be low.
The new electronic certificate will have no impact on the scope of the VAT exemptions concerned. There will therefore be no impact on the EU budget, as own resources based on gross national income (GNI) will not be affected.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/eak (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)