The recast of the Sixth Directive and a study on VAT exemption for financial and insurance services were published during the week ending 15 December 2006.

Paragraph 1.34 of the December edition of tax.point advised that the EU Council of Ministers adopted a directive recasting the Directive on the common system of value added tax (‘Sixth VAT Directive’).

The new Directive (2006/112/EC) entered into force on 1 January 2007. The Directive was published in the EU Official Journal during the week ending 15 December and is available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/l_347/l_34720061211en00010118.pdf.

Also, during that week the European Commission published its study on the economic effects of the VAT exemption for financial and insurance services. The executive summary, main report and annexes are available at http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/publications/studies/index_en.htm.