The European Commission has withdrawn plans to introduce a standard VAT return across the EU. This initiative was originally proposed by the Commission in 2013. However, after consultation across member states, the plans are now withdrawn due to the complexity in integrating VAT forms across the EU into a standard form which would improve and simplify VAT compliance.

The Commission’s Workplan for 2016 stated that “we also intend to withdraw a number of VAT proposals on the table that have made little progress in the Council or where their significant simplification potential has been unacceptably watered down, as is the case for the standard VAT declaration.”