The European Commission has now published proposals for the detailed technical amendments that will accompany the overall plan to make the VAT system more fraud-resilient.

In the October proposal, the Commission proposed the main principles for the creation of a single EU VAT area which would help to shut down the estimated €50 billion in fraud currently affecting national budgets annually in EU Member States.

With the proposal of these technical measures, the Commission hopes that Member States will initiate discussions on the broader principles or ‘cornerstones’ of a simpler and resilient definitive EU VAT system for the trade in goods within the EU.

These four cornerstones are:

– Simplification of how goods are taxed

– Creation of a single online portal (‘One Stop Shop’) for traders

– Reduced administrative burden

– Making the seller responsible for VAT collection in most cases

You can read the full press release here.

Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, said that “the proposals we are presenting today represent the final building blocks in the overhaul of the EU’s VAT system. They will open the way to simpler rules, less red tape and a more user-friendly system, thanks to the online one-stop shop for traders.”