Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1108 of 20 July 2020

What it is

to postpone the date of application of the VAT e-commerce package on administrative cooperation and combating fraud in the field of value added tax, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion. BACKGROUND: Council Regulation (EU) 2017/2454 is part of the package of legislation on modernising VAT for cross-border B2C e-commerce. It amends Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 on administrative cooperation and combating fraud in the field of value added tax, which provides the basis for the underlying IT infrastructure and the necessary cooperation by Member States to ensure the success of the extension of the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS). However, due to the unforeseen outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis and its major impact, Member States had to shift priorities and re-allocate resources from the implementation of the VAT e-commerce package to fighting this pandemic. The European Parliament adopted by 494 votes to 165, with 35 abstentions, under a special legislative consultation procedure, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2454 as regards the dates of application due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. Parliament approved the Commission proposal subject to amendments. While the Commission proposes a 6-month postponement (from 1 January 2021 to 1 July 2021) of the date of application of the VAT package on e-commerce, Parliament proposed that the possibility to postpone be limited to 3 months, i.e. until 1 April 2021, which corresponds to the period of lockdown in most Member States. Parliament made it clear that postponing beyond 3 months would increase the risk of VAT fraud at a time when public finances should be replenished in order to fight the pandemic and its economic and social consequences. In light of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, Members stressed the importance of avoiding further losses of revenue, pointing out that a longer delay of six months could lead to a loss of revenue of between EUR 2.5 billion and EUR 3.5 billion for Member States. Parliament recalled that the e-commerce package’s goals of facilitating the global competitiveness of European SMEs, easing the administrative pressure on Union sellers and ensuring that online platforms contribute to a fairer VAT collection system while combating tax fraud are key aspects of a level playing field for all businesses, which is particularly important in the context of the post-COVID-19 recovery.

Frequently asked