Brussels, 08/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - As a result of the financial crisis, European finance ministers meeting on Tuesday 7 October did not have time to discuss tackling VAT (value added tax) fraud, and so did not reach any decision on the French Presidency's compromise on what are called “conventional” measures. These measures, adopted by the European Commission in March, seek, inter alia, to speed up the exchange of information on intra-Community deliveries.
The French draft compromise contains the following points: - periodic summaries of intra-Community deliveries to be prepared monthly; - member states to be able to authorise operators to submit their periodic summaries quarterly for intra-Community deliveries of services and goods, if the value is less than €50,000 over the quarter in question and the previous four quarters. The Commission will prepare a report before the end of 2013 on how the new rules, supposed to come into effect in January 2010, are working.
The Commission's “conventional” measures amend the VAT directive (2006/112/EC) and the regulation (1798/2003) governing administrative cooperation on VAT. The Commission has proposed that, from 2010, companies should declare their intra-Community deliveries of goods and services within one to two months, rather than the three to six months as at present. Member states would be required to share information within the same timescale. Companies obtaining cross-border goods and services, the annual turnover for which does not exceed €200,000, would be required to submit a monthly return. (M.B./transl.rt)