Practical guidelines on 2015 VAT change released by EC

Brussels, Belgium, 30-10-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — The Commission has today published practical guidelines to prepare businesses for the new VAT rules for telecoms and e-services, which will enter into force in 2015. The aim is to help businesses to be fully prepared on time for the change-over, whereby VAT will be charged where the customer is based, rather than where the seller is. A One Stop Shop will enable telecoms, broadcasting and e-services businesses comply with all of their VAT obligations in all Member States from their country of registration. This is consistent with the Commission’s goal of reducing tax obstacles and administrative burdens for cross-border companies in the Single Market. Today’s guidelines focus on the information that will be requested to register and account for VAT, the formats in which it will be requested, the submission deadlines, and all practical details on the payments. With this information, businesses will able to properly prepare their processes and configure their IT tools to collect the information that they will have to submit from February 2015. Additional guidelines will be published next year on the new place of supply rules.

Useful links

Guidelines:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/telecom/one-stop-shop-guidelines_en.pdf

More details on the 2015 VAT change and the One Stop Shop:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/telecom/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/traders/e-commerce/index_en.htm

Homepage of Commissioner Algirdas Šemeta, EU Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-fraud Commissioner:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/semeta/index_en.htm

Follow Commissioner Algirdas Šemeta on Twitter