European Commission looks to modernise VAT for cross-border e-commerce

Published on 30th Sep 2015

VAT and e-commerce has been a topic of great debate in 2015 with the introduction on 1 January 2015 of new VAT place of supply rules for cross-border telecommunications, broadcasting and e-services and the introduction of the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS). The European Commission, as part of its ongoing assessment of these new rules, has launched a consultation with the aim of identifying ways to further simplify the VAT payments on cross-border e-commerce transactions in the EU.

The rules introduced in January have come under fire, particularly from small companies who previously did not have to account for VAT in the UK on their e-commerce sales. The consultation recognises this as an issue and as part of the Digital Single Market Strategy hopes to legislate in 2016 to help reduce the administrative burden on businesses dealing with different VAT regimes. At this stage the consultation document requests answers to a series of questions from businesses and hopes to draft legislative proposals based on these responses in 2016. We will keep you updated as this consultation moves forward.

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* This article is current as of the date of its publication and does not necessarily reflect the present state of the law or relevant regulation.

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