Regulatory Analysis

In 2019, many European Union Member States took advantage of the alignment of physical publications and electronic publications, recently allowed by Council Directive (EU) 2018/1713.  It appears 2020 is no different, as the following Member States have followed suit: Austria Electronic publications in Austria are currently taxed at the standard VAT rate of 20%, while physical […]

The Portuguese tax authorities are implementing a new filing system to declare Stamp Duty in Portugal in 2020. Tax payers will now be required to provide detailed information on a transactional basis in order to issue the Stamp Duty return. For insurers, this means that, each month, they will be required to report: The tax […]

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 Institute for Insurance Supervision (IVASS) in Italy has published the management charge rate for the year 2020. It set the rate for 2020 at 4.12%. The management charge reduces the taxable basis applied to the Road Accident Victims Fund (RAVF) and Hunting Accident Victims Fund (HAVF) and is published annually in November.

From July 1, 2020, on an experimental basis, Italian taxpayers (i.e. businesses resident and established in Italy) may submit pre-completed VAT returns. Specifically, Article 16 of recently enacted Decree n. 124/2019 provides that data gleaned from transactional information supplied from electronic invoices via SDI, cross-border transactions, as well as data collected on fees electronically will […]

From 1 November 2019, the Polish Ministry of Finance (“MoF”) will implement the Binding Rate Information scheme (“WIS”), a facility enabling taxpayers to apply to the MoF for a legally binding agreement on the VAT rate pertaining to a specific good or service (or combination of goods and services).  Most WIS agreements will only become […]

The European Council and the United Kingdom have agreed to defer the latter’s departure date from the European Union until January 31, 2020. The agreement has been labeled a “flextension,” because it leaves open the possibility of an earlier departure date, should the two sides successfully negotiate a Withdrawal Agreement. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in […]

The Polish Ministry of Finance has published a regulation in the Journal of Laws detailing the structure of the new JPK_VAT standard audit file (labelled up to now with the title “JPK_VDEK”), filing of which will become mandatory for large taxpayers from 1 April 2020 and for small and medium taxpayers from 1 July 2020. Taxpayers […]

HMRC’s trade statistics portal uktradeinfo has announced that businesses presently required to file periodic Intrastat declarations reporting the movement of goods between the UK and EU Member States will have a continuing obligation to do so after the UK leaves the EU.  HMRC has cited the reasoning for this as that the information provided remains […]

Businesses operating in the EU currently not required to register for UK VAT because of cross-border simplifications (e.g. zero-rating of intra-community acquisitions, or call-off stock arrangements) may need to do so if the UK leaves the EU on 31 October without a withdrawal deal.  In order to support supply chains for UK businesses with UK […]

The National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria has announced the following Intrastat thresholds starting on January 1, 2020: For Intrastat reporting dispatches, the threshold will increase from BGN 280,000 to BGN 290,000.  For Intrastat reporting arrivals, the threshold will increase from BGN 460,000 to BGN 470,000.   Thresholds for declaring statistical value are also increasing.  For dispatches, […]

In its recently published Tax Reform Act 2020, Austria has announced its intention to increase the VAT registration threshold for Austria-established businesses from EUR 30,000 to EUR 35,000 with effect from 1 January 2020. The Act has passed the lower house of Parliament (Nationalrat) and is currently being debated in the upper house (Bundesrat).   The […]

Online filing is becoming more popular in the European Union and three new territories look set to modernise how Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) should be filed going forward. France has introduced an article in its 2020 Budget Law that will make the online filing and payment of IPT compulsory by 1 January 2022 at the […]

Insurance companies covering risks in Greece must now report their insurance policies annually to meet new obligations introduced by the Greek tax authorities.  A report is due by 31 March each year listing all the invoices declared each quarter during the previous calendar year. Approving the law back in 2016, the Greek tax authorities have only recently […]

The Polish Ministry of Finance (“MoF”) has issued a reminder regarding the introduction of a mandatory split payments regime (known as “MPP”) for certain VAT-bearing transactions for selected categories of goods and services, commencing 1 November 2019. If a transaction falls within the scope of MPP, whilst the net or taxable amount of the payment […]

On 26 September 2019, Uzbekistan’s Presidential Decree #5837 “On measures for further improvement of the tax policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan” was adopted.  This decree lowers the standard VAT rate from 20% to 15%, effective October 1, 2019. For more information, please find the decree here.

The Austrian tax authorities have confirmed that from fiscal year 2020, insurance companies writing in Austria both from their head office and their network of branches will be required to file single Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) and Fire Protection Tax (FPT) returns. This means that making separate IPT and FPT filings for branches will no […]

The Albanian Ministry of Finance and Economy has launched a public consultation that would require real-time reporting of all business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions to the tax authority from January 1, 2020. The bill would also require electronic invoicing for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) transactions from January 1, 2021. Public consultation will last through August 2019.