The European Commission published technical anti-fraud amendments to the VAT Directive. This is part of proposals put forward by the Commission in October 2017 to deal with estimated VAT receipts of €50 billion which are lost annually to cross-border fraud.

The measures published include proposals for simplification of how goods are taxed, the creation of a single online portal (‘One Stop Shop’) for traders, measures to reduce the administrative burden on the taxpayer and measures to ensure that the seller is responsible for VAT collection in most cases.

This legislative proposal will be sent to the Member States in the European Council for agreement and to the European Parliament for consultation. The Commission will follow this initiative in 2018 with a detailed legal proposal to amend the VAT Directive at technical level.

The Commission’s press release and draft amendments to the VAT Directive provide further details.