The European Commission proposed a modification of the EC regulation on VAT (Value Added Tax) with the aim of facilitating on-line invoicing by means of reducing administrative constraints on companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.
The EC thinks that this will help member states fight tax fraud. Brussels calculates that this initiative will allow a saving of 18,000 million Euros within the EU.
The proposal suppresses the effective disposition of the EC regulation on VAT that prevents electronic invoicing and establishes the principle that electronic invoices have the same validity. It will allow companies to adopt 100% electronic invoicing systems.
The commissioner responsible for fiscal policy László Kovács, emphasized that at the present time the national rules regarding invoicing in the territory of VAT “are excessively complicated and diverse, creating useless administrative loads for the companies that exert international activities and which facilitate the merry-go-round type of fraud”. With the proposed changes, the invoicing rules “will be much more simple, modern and complete, and at the same time they will give effective ways of fiscal control to the administrations”.
The EC Executive presented a report on the European strategy for the reduction of administrative burdens; its conclusion is that citizens and companies are already getting benefit from this initiative. The suppression of about 1,300 legislative acts representing around 10% of the total or 7,800 pages of the Official Newspaper has been proposed. The anticipated measures of reduction estimate a saving of administrative loads worth more than 30,000 million Euros.
(Source: Vlex, Noticias Legales)
