Blog

Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) doesn’t represent a significant share of the total revenue generated by tax authorities.  In the UK for instance, it only accounts for 1% of the total revenue while the share rises to just 4% in Germany. However, over the past five years there has been a regular increase in the amount […]

2019 was an exciting year for VAT and, given the ever-increasing pressure on governments to increase revenues, it’s likely that 2020 will be just as eventful. Although VAT is an ever-shifting landscape, below are three recent trends that we believe are poised to continue in 2020 and beyond: 1.  VAT obligations for remote sellers Globally, […]

Working towards a ‘Definitive VAT System’ The EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (“ECOFIN”) issued a report last month.  This followed its review of EU tax policies and developments since Finland took over the Presidency of the Council of the EU in July 2019.  The report is broad.  It covers digital taxation, contributions to the […]

Romania has the largest so-called “VAT gap,” the difference between actual and expected VAT revenues, in the European Union. According to a 2019 European Commission study, 36% of Romania’s VAT revenues, EUR 6.41 billion, went missing in 2017. Romania’s VAT gap reached 48% in 2011, following a sharp increase in the standard VAT rate from […]

The deadline for the electronic invoicing mandate in India is rapidly approaching, and if multinationals aren’t careful, compliance issues could catch some SAP customers by surprise. On April 1, India will begin enforcing its own unique version of mandatory e-invoicing for all but the smallest businesses in the country, although the Indian tax administration has […]

Controls to close the VAT gap and combat VAT fraud The VAT gap for Europe remains around €137 billion every year, according to the latest report from the European Commission. This represents a loss of 11.2% of the expected VAT revenue for the region. The largest gaps were in Romania at 37.89%, Greece 33.6%, and […]

On 27 December 2019, the Italian government issued a decree delaying and establishing new dates for when the NSO platform would go live. The Electronic Purchase Orders Routing Node platform (Nodo di Smistamento degli Ordini, NSO) had initially been scheduled to be effective on 1 October 2019. The NSO is the Italian government owned platform […]

Digital tax reporting requirements have arrived and are here to stay.  As the global VAT gap continues to grow (estimated to be as high as half a trillion EUR), countries are increasingly using complex reporting requirements to gain insight into VAT activities.  In this rapidly changing environment, it’s of utmost importance for companies to ensure […]

The insurance world is often seen as slow and reluctant to fully embrace technology. However, new competition from the growing number of insurtech companies and the digitisation of reporting to local authorities are forcing insurers to wake up to the wave of technology transformation the sector is experiencing. Still, people behind technology remain key. Perhaps […]

The following is an excerpt from “Trends in Continuous Global VAT Compliance,” the 11th edition of the industry’s most comprehensive guide to e-invoicing, e-archiving and VAT reporting. The full report is available for download.  To reduce the VAT gap, countries are pushing taxable organizations to comply with VAT requirements and enforcing different types of legal […]

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has released the new 2020 version of the Incoterms.  Incoterms are important business shorthand and understanding their express meaning and intended usage is incredibly important in minimizing business risk and ensuring compliant VAT reporting.  The following information provides some basic guidance for tax compliance professionals looking to refresh their […]

HMRC administers the whole of the tax system for the UK and Northern Ireland.  Although there are some 5.7 million active businesses in the UK, less than half a percent are responsible for 40% of the tax HMRC collects (approximately £217 billion in 2017).  So, how well those businesses manage their tax compliance will make […]

Mandatory SAF-T (Standard Audit File-Tax) reporting will be introduced in Norway from 1 January 2020. Use of SAF-T, a standardized XML format containing exported accounting information, remains voluntary until that date. SAF-T is designed to reduce compliance and administrative costs for businesses and revenue bodies and enhance audit outcomes.  Its standardized, easily readable layout and […]

First legislation of the myDATA The requirement for the mandatory submission of tax data to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR) has finally been established in law, specifically in the new tax bill approved by the Greek parliament just a few days ago. The tax bill further mandates the IAPR to finalize, by way […]

Companies are dealing with a fundamental shift in the way they do business with trading partners. In a rapidly increasing number of countries, there’s a third party inserting itself into every transaction. It’s the government, and it’s wedging its way into every order a company ships or receives.  In an effort to close a massive […]

In Europe, Poland seems to be the first country to move away from the traditional VAT return replacing it with a detailed Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T). This is basically an expansion of the SAF-T system already used in Poland since 2016. Large enterprises must start working with the expanded SAF-T system from April […]

Since July 2018, taxpayers in Hungary have been obliged to disclose the data of electronic invoices issued for transactions with accounted VAT exceeding HUF 100,000 (approximately €300). This data must be transmitted to the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary (NAV) in a structured manner once the electronic invoice has been issued.  This fiscal obligation […]

The value of data is rising The value of data is becoming more precious than oil.  Technology has transformed market dynamics across all sectors and the way businesses operate. Big data has grown in importance and data-based platforms are today’s new technology giants. On one hand; Facebook, Google and other data-based platforms are collecting data […]