European Union value added tax

Cyprus' finance minister, Makis Keravnos, said that the ministry is considering reducing the value-added tax (VAT) for basic necessities to tackle high prices.

The Bank of Greece proposes simplification of the tax legislation and the tax system, digitization of procedures and payments, but also closer cooperation of the tax authorities of the EU member states for the detection of fraud in cross-border transactions, in order to reduce tax evasion on the VAT front.

Brussels – At a meeting chaired by Slovenian Finance Minister Andrej Šircelj in Brussels on Tuesday, EU finance ministers reached political consensus to upgrade the EU rules on reduced VAT rates, updating the list of goods and services for which reduced rates or exemptions are allowed.

Ljubljana – The government has adopted a new version of amendments to the act on value added tax (VAT) after its first proposal was defeated in parliament in July. The original amendments were drafted as part of broader tax reform efforts. The new version preserves some of the key solutions but is narrower.

From today, all online purchases from outside the European Union will be subject to VAT. Until now, receiving only small shipments up to 22 euros has been exempt from tax. In addition to charging VAT, a customs declaration will be submitted for the shipments.

The European Commission called on Bulgaria to improve the national rules for the environmental impact of public and private projects. In March 2019, Brussels sent a notification letter to Sofia that the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive had not been properly transposed.

As of 1 July 2021, new European VAT rules for business-to-consumers (B2C) transactions will apply, impacting suppliers of services, goods, marketplaces and postal couriers.

Why these new rules?

• To facilitate EU cross-border trades;
• To ensure fair competition for EU suppliers;
• To combat VAT fraud.

What's new?

Romania became, last year, the leader of the European Union in terms of the growth rate of electronic commerce, and the value of this market reached 5.6 billion euros, according to data published on Monday by representatives of a European fintech.

Ljubljana – The legislative changes lowering VAT on women’s sanitary products from 22% to 9.5% entered into force on Monday. The initiative for the changes had come from Bojana Muršič, an MP for the opposition Social Democrats (SD).

Turkish-based advertisers on Facebook lacking a valid Turkish value-added tax (VAT) identification number will be charged 18 percent on the value of advertising services as of April 1, the social media giant has announced.