When to expect definitive VAT system for EU?

A long-awaited draft amendment to the VAT Directive, intended to specify the outlines of the definitive VAT system for intra-EU supplies of goods, was published by the European Commission on 4 October 2017.

ECOFIN meeting: Taxation of digital economy and definitive VAT system

The main tax issues discussed at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council’s October meeting were the taxation of the digital economy and the implementation of a definitive VAT system. The ECOFIN approved a draft directive implementing a new system…

SAC: Tax administrator’s authority to register taxpayers for VAT subject to time limit

In its decision 10 Afs 329/2016-55, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) confirmed that the tax administrator’s authority to register persons liable to tax as VAT payers by virtue of office is not time-unlimited, similarly as any other…

CJEU: Leases with option to purchase considered delivery of goods?

There are various forms of leases from a tax perspective. For VAT, the crucial question is whether, after the end of the lease term, the ownership title to a leased asset is automatically transferred from the lessor to the lessee. If this is the…

Are you renting out on Airbnb? Then you are liable to tax, says financial administration

Accommodation providers using internet portals such as Airbnb should be on their guard. The General Financial Directorate’s Information published in October 2017 draws attention to tax obligations in this area, covering income taxes, value added tax…

Re-invoicing excluding VAT? Only when no ancillary supply is involved

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) recently agreed with the tax administrator that the re-invoicing of accident insurance is a supply ancillary to the lease of a motor vehicle and, consequently, should be liable to the same VAT regime as the…

VAT: Do you know you should have known?

In their data boxes, selected VAT payers have recently received a notice whose purpose at first sight is not entirely clear. In the Notice on Taking Adequate Measures the tax administrator lists recommended preventive measures.

Latest news - November 2017

Last month’s tax and legal news in a few sentences.

Independent groups of persons and the financial sector

The end of September brought two ground-breaking rulings issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that will significantly affect not only the financial sector. The CJEU judges finally provided their long-awaited answer to the…

Latest news - September 2017

Last month’s tax and legal news in a few sentences.

Regional court says no to the concurrence of liability for VAT and denying the entitlement to deduction

The tax administration has numerous tools to fight VAT fraud and evasion, including denying the entitlement to VAT deduction or instating customers’ liability for VAT not paid by their suppliers. And tax administrators do not hesitate to use these…

SAC: Partial payment orders may not be issued

According to the Supreme Administrative Court, the Tax Procedure Rules do not allow the issuance of a payment order for only a portion of tax. This means that VAT payers from whom the tax administrators retain excess deductions sometimes amounting…