Regulatory Analysis
The European Commission has proposed a Council Directive that would make permanent a minimum standard VAT rate of 15% for all Member States. The 15% minimum rate currently exists as a "transitional" measure, though it has been extended six times since its enactment in 1992. If approved, the permanent 15% minimum rate of VAT would take […]
On December 4th, 2017, Italy’s parliament adopted Law Decree no. 148, by way of Law no. 174. Under Article 5 of Law Decree no. 148, the current VAT rate of 10% would be increased to 11.14% effective January 1, 2018. However, the 2018 Italian budget bill currently provides for the reduced VAT rate to be 10% […]
International News OECD Issues New Advice on VAT Administration On Oct 24, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released guidance on how countries can implement effective VAT collection systems for cross-border trade, particularly concerning digital/electronic supplies. The guidance, which is entitled, Mechanisms for the Effective Collection of VAT/GST, relates mostly to design options […]
The Croatian Parliament has published in the Official Gazette 115/16, changes to Croatia's VAT Act that are effective January 1, 2018. Among these changes is an increase in the threshold amount over which businesses are required to register for VAT in Croatia. As of January 1, the amount will increase to HRK 300,000.00. Any businesses […]
As a part of the recent changes to the Environmental Handling Fee (EHF) program in Canada, a new fee has been announced that will be imposed, in the provinces of Quebec and Manitoba, on all sales of flashlights and spotlights, electronic toys, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, when these products are sold with batteries, effective January […]
On October 16, 2017, Italy's Council of Ministers approved the 2018 Budget Bill. The bill proposes two new electronic invoicing requirements for businesses. Starting July 1, 2018, electronic invoices would be required to be submitted through the Sistema di Interscambio for services rendered by subcontractors under a public-service contract, as well as for the sale […]
On October 13 2017, the Polish Ministry of Finance published a new version of SAF-T structures for VAT-JPK_VAT(3) and announced that transmittals pursuant to the new structure will be required as of January 1, 2018. The new version includes changes to the Heading and Entity identification structures. The new changes in .xsd format are available […]
On Oct 24, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released guidance on how countries can implement effective VAT collection systems for cross-border trade, particularly concerning digital/electronic supplies. The guidance, which is entitled, Mechanisms for the Effective Collection of VAT/GST, relates mostly to design options for effective VAT collection mechanisms and registration systems. […]
The Spain Ministry of Finance released the first report detailing business compliance with the new SII mandate. According to the report, the compliance rate is in excess of 90%, meaning that approximately 50,000 businesses are meeting the requirement of providing transactional details to the government on a near-real-time basis. In the last three months, more […]
On October 4, 2017, the European Commission published a set of proposals aimed at simplifying and modernizing the current VAT system. The "cornerstone" principles of the Commission's approach are: Combating VAT fraud and reducing the €150 billion VAT Gap Establishing a "One Stop Shop" for cross-border trade Consistently applying the "destination principle" for VAT […]
The Mexican President has issued a Decree by which taxpayers that were affected by the earthquake of September 19 in the municipalities of the states of Guerrero, Mexico, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tlaxcala, as well as in Mexico City, will be allowed to pay the VAT due on transactions carried out during the months of September, […]
On October 1, 2017, the Catalonian region of Spain held a referendum on independence. While the Spanish Supreme Court declared the vote unconstitutional and Spain does not recognize the result as legally binding, the vote was held and the results were that an overwhelming majority of Catalan voters expressed a clear desire to become an […]
The Dutch government has released its Tax Plan for 2018, which includes three provisions relating to the VAT law. First is the abolition of the special scheme for agriculture. The government's explanatory memo states that this plan is being abolished because the modernization of farming has led agricultural businesses to more closely resemble other businesses, thus obviating […]
On September 14, 2017 the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance published the updated lists of companies that qualify for the revised split payment system. The updated lists cover changes to two categories of companies that are subject to the split payment system in Italy: Companies lawfully controlled by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and […]
The Croatian Ministry of Finance has issued clarifying guidance related to the VAT exemptions available to non-profit entities under Article 39(1)(m) of the Croatian VAT Act. Section 1(m) of Article 39 states that "services closely related to sport or physical education performed by non-profit legal persons, to persons engaged in sport or participating in physical […]
Last week, Her Royal Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the opening of a consultation period regarding the current legislation for the “Making Tax Digital” initiative, which is slated to take effect from April 2019. In its announcement, HMRC provided links to summaries regarding the current content of related legislation, and alerted consumers that they have […]
The European Commission has proposed Poland be authorized to assess a reverse charge on hard drives, such as solid-state drives and hard disk drives, which would impose VAT liability on the purchaser of such items. Article 199(a) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC (“the EU VAT Directive”) currently allows for Member States to impose a reverse charge […]
In its most recent framework for a budget agreement, the Belgian government has proposed giving taxpayers the option to collect VAT on the letting of immovable property, beginning January 1, 2018. This would allow taxpayers to deduct any input VAT incurred on operations such as construction that are directly related to the letting of the […]