European Union Value Added Tax
Encyclopedia
The European Union value added tax (or EU VAT) is the system of value added tax
Value added tax
A value added tax or value-added tax is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its...

 (VAT) adopted by nations in the EU VAT area
European Union Value Added Tax Area
The European Union value added tax area is a territory consisting of all European Union member states and certain other countries which follow the European Union's rules on value added tax . The principle is also valid for some special taxes on products like alcohol and tobacco.Goods are only...

. The European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 itself does not collect the tax, but EU member states are each required to adopt a VAT that complies with the EU VAT system. Some of the VAT collected by member states is used to fund the European Union.

As a consumption tax
Consumption tax
A consumption tax is a tax on spending on goods and services. The tax base of such a tax is the money spent on consumption. Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value added tax...

, the EU VAT taxes the consumption of goods and services in the EU VAT area. The EU VAT's key issue asks where the supply and consumption occurs thereby determining what member state will collect the VAT and what VAT rate will be charged.

Different rates of VAT apply in different EU member states. The minimum standard rate of VAT throughout the EU is 15%, although reduced rates of VAT, as low as 5% or 0%, are applied in various states on various sorts of supply (for example, domestic fuel and power in the UK).

VAT that is charged by a business and paid by its customers is known as "output VAT" (that is, VAT on its output supplies). VAT that is paid by a business to other businesses on the supplies that it receives is known as "input VAT" (that is, VAT on its input supplies). A business is generally able to recover input VAT to the extent that the input VAT is attributable to (that is, used to make) its taxable outputs. Input VAT is recovered by setting it against the output VAT for which the business is required to account to the government, or, if there is an excess, by claiming a repayment from the government.

The VAT Directive (prior to 1 January 2007 known as the Sixth VAT Directive) requires certain goods and services to be exempt from VAT (for example, postal services, medical care, lending, insurance, betting), and certain other goods and services to be exempt from VAT but subject to the ability of an EU member state to opt to charge VAT on those supplies (such as land and certain financial services). Input VAT that is attributable to exempt supplies is not recoverable, although a business can increase its prices so the customer effectively bears the cost of the 'sticking' VAT (the effective rate will be lower than the headline rate and depend on the balance between previously taxed input and labour at the exempt stage).

Authority and scope of the tax

The European Community Treaty
Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, was an international agreement that led to the founding of the European Economic Community on 1 January 1958. It was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany...

 ("EC Treaty") authorized the Council of the European Union
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...

 ("Council") and European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 ("Commission") to make Regulations and issue Directives. Regulations are binding in their entirety and are directly applicable to all member states. Directives, meanwhile, are binding as to their required result allowing each member state to choose the method and form of implementing the Directive.

In addition to Directives and Regulations, the EC Treaty also authorized the Commission to render decisions on determining whether a member state has been in noncompliance with a Directive or Regulation. When a member state has infringed the EC Treaty then the Commission nd the Council is authorized to begin a process of coercing compliance. First the Commission will issue a confidential letter of formal notice that requests information in the investigation of a possible infringement and this provides a two month deadline for a resolution. If the two month deadline passes, then the Commission will submit press release announcing a reasoned opinion providing a series of reasons why an infringement is suspected and provides for another two month deadline for the member state to end the infringement. If the member state fails to respond to the reasoned opinion then the Commission submit a press release that it has referred the controversy to the European Court of Justice
European Court of Justice
The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...

 ("ECJ").

The scope of the ECJ's authority is limited by the national sovereignty of each member state. It cannot annul national laws or force administrative compliance and instead enforces compliance by imposing penalties on the non-compliant member state.

The EU VAT system is imposed by a series of European Union directive
European Union directive
A directive is a legislative act of the European Union, which requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. It can be distinguished from regulations which are self-executing and do not require any implementing measures. Directives...

s, the most important of which is the Sixth VAT Directive. This Directive has been updated and replaced by another Directive since the 1st of January 2007. Important changes will occur when a subsequent Directive will address the issue on "the place of supply of services" and will be in force on 1 January 2010.

History

VAT was invented by a French economist in 1954 as . Maurice Lauré
Maurice Lauré
Maurice Lauré is primarily known for creating the taxe sur la valeur ajoutée ....

, joint director of the French tax authority, the , was first to introduce VAT with effect from 10 April 1954 for large businesses, and it was extended over time to all business sectors.

In 1977, the Council of the European Communities sought to harmonize the national VAT systems of its member states by issuing the Sixth Directive to provide a uniform basis of assessment and replacing the Second Directive promulgated in 1967. In 2006, the Council sought to improve on the Sixth Directive by recasting it.

Sixth Directive

The Sixth Directive characterised the EU VAT as harmonisation of the member states' general tax on the consumption of goods and services. The Sixth Directive defined a taxable transaction within the EU VAT scheme as a transaction involving the supply of goods, the supply of services, and the importation of goods.

Recast Sixth Directive

The recast of the Sixth Directive retained all of the legal provisions of the Sixth Directive but also incorporated VAT provisions found in other Directives whilst rearranging the order of the text to make it more readable. In addition, the Recast Directive codified certain other instruments including a Commission decision of 2000 relating to funding of the EU budget from with a percentage of the VAT amounts collected by each Member State.

Supply of goods

As a consumption tax, the general rule is that the VAT is ultimately collected where the goods are purchased by the consumer. The supply of goods (the exchange of goods for consideration) is a taxable transaction, that is, VAT at the appropriate rate is added to the purchase price. If the purchaser is a business (a taxable person) that is not the final consumer, it may reclaim as a credit the VAT paid on the purchase. When the business resells the goods, VAT is added to the resale price. The taxable person then pays to the government the VAT on the resale, less a credit for the VAT on the purchase, and in effect thus pays to the government tax on the value added. The supply of goods follows a chain of businesses until it reaches the final consumer. The final consumer does not receive a credit for the VAT paid so that the final consumer bears the cost of the VAT.

Domestic supply

A domestic supply of goods is a taxable transaction where goods are received in exchange for consideration within one member state. Thus, one member state then charges VAT on the goods and allows a corresponding credit upon resale.

Intra-Community acquisition

An intra-Community acquisition of goods is a taxable transaction for consideration crossing two or more member states and the goods are not sold to the final consumer but rather between merchants. The place of supply is determined to be the destination member state, and VAT is charged at the rate applicable in the destination member state.

The mechanism for achieving this result is as follows. The exporting member state zero-rates the VAT. This means that the member state of the exporting merchant does not collect VAT on the sale, but still gives the exporting merchant a credit for the VAT paid on the purchase by the exporter (in practice this often means a cash refund). The importing member state "reverse charges" the VAT. This means that the importer is required to pay VAT to the importing member state at its rate. In many cases a credit is immediately given for this as input VAT. The importer then charges VAT on resale in the normal way.

Distance sales

When a vendor in one member state sells goods directly to individuals and VAT-exempt organisations in another member state and the aggregate value of goods sold to consumers in that member state is below €100,000 (or the equivalent, e.g. in the UK as of 2010 it is £70,000) in any 12 consecutive months, then such a sale of goods may qualify for a distance sales treatment. Distance sales treatment allows the vendor to apply domestic place of supply rules for determining which member state collects the VAT. This means that VAT is charged at the rate applicable in the exporting member state. However, there are some additional restrictions to be met. For instance, supply of new motor vehicles like cars, trucks and boats does not qualify. As well, a compulsory VAT registration is required for a supplier of excisable goods to the UK (like tobacco and alcohol).

If sales to final consumers in a member state exceed €100,000, the exporting vendor is required to charge VAT at the rate applicable in the importing member state. If a supplier provides a distant sales service to several EU member states, a separate accounting of sold goods in regards to VAT calculation is required. The supplier then must seek a VAT registration (and charge applicable rate) in each such country where the volume of sales in any 12 consecutive months exceeds local threshold.

A special threshold amount of €35,000 is allowed if the importing member state may prove that absent the lower threshold amount competition within the member state would be distorted.

Supply of services

A supply of services is the supply of anything that is not a good.

The general rule for determining the place of supply is the place where the supplier of the services is established (or "belongs"), such as a fixed establishment
Permanent establishment
A permanent establishment is a fixed place of business which generally gives rise to income or value added tax liability in a particular jurisdiction. The term is defined in many income tax treaties and most European Union Value Added Tax systems. The tax systems in some civil law countries...

 where the service is supplied, the supplier's permanent address, or where the supplier usually resides. VAT is then charged at the rate applicable in the member state where the place of supply of the services is located and is collected by that member state.

This general rule for the place of supply of services (the place where the supplier is established) is subject to several exceptions. Most of the exceptions switch the place of supply to the place where the services are received. Such exceptions include the supply of transportation services, the supply of cultural services, supply of artistic services, the supply of sporting services, the supply of scientific services, the supply of educational services, the supply of ancillary transport services, services related to transfer pricing services, and many miscellaneous services including legal services, banking and financial services, telecommunications, broadcasting, electronically supplied services, services from engineers and accountants, advertising services, and intellectual property services. The place of supply of services related to real estate is where the real estate is located.

There are special rules for determining the place of supply of services delivered electronically.

The mechanism for collecting VAT when the place of supply is not in the same member state as the supplier is similar to that used for Intra-Community Acquisitions of goods, i.e. zero-rating by the supplier and reverse charge by the recipient of the services (if a taxable person). But if the recipient of the services is not a taxable person (i.e. a final consumer), the supplier must generally charge VAT at the rate applicable in its own member state.

If the place of supply is outside the EU, no VAT is charged.

Importation of goods

Goods imported from non-member states are subject to VAT at the rate applicable in the member state into which the goods are imported, regardless of whether the goods are received for consideration and regardless of who imports the goods. VAT is generally charged at the border
Border
Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...

, at the same time as customs duty and using the price determined by customs. However as a result of the action of an EU administrative VAT relief an exception called Low Value Consignment Relief
Low Value Consignment Relief
When goods are imported into a European Union country from a non-eu territory, goods may be subject to customs duty, excise duty and value-added tax....

 is allowed on shipments of a low value.

VAT paid on importation is treated as input VAT in the same way as VAT on domestic purchases.

Following changes introduced on 1 July 2003, non-EU businesses providing digital electronic commerce
Electronic commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online...

 and entertainment products and services to EU countries are also required to register with the tax authorities in the relevant EU member state, and to collect VAT on their sales at the appropriate rate, according to the location of the purchaser. Alternatively, under a special scheme, non-EU businesses may register and account for VAT on only one EU member state. This produces distortions as the rate of VAT is that of the member state of registration, not where the customer is located, and an alternative approach is therefore under negotiation, whereby VAT is charged at the rate of the member state where the purchaser is located.

Legacy derogations

Some goods and services are "zero-rated". The zero-rate is a positive rate of tax calculated at 0%. Supplies subject to the zero-rate are still "taxable supplies", that is, they have VAT charged on them. In the UK, examples include most food, books, medications, and certain kinds of transport. The zero-rate is not featured in the EU Sixth Directive as it was intended that the minimum VAT rate throughout Europe would be 5%. However, zero-rating remains in some Member States, most notably the UK and Ireland, as a legacy of pre-EU legislation. These Member States have been granted a derogation to continue existing zero-rating but cannot add new goods or services.

The UK also applies the lower rate on some products depending on how the supply is being made; for example, milk products bought from a retailer are subject to VAT at 0% rate, but milk drinks bought to be drunk in a restaurant are subject to VAT at the standard 20% rate.

Exemption from VAT

There is a distinction between goods and services that are exempt from VAT and those that are subject to 0% VAT. The seller of exempt goods is not entitled to reclaim VAT on business purchases, whereas the seller of goods and services rated at 0% is entitled. An example would be a book manufacturer in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, who purchases paper including VAT at the 21% rate, and sells books at the 0% rate; the manufacturer would be entitled to reclaim the VAT paid on the paper as the business is making taxable supplies.

8th and 13th Directives

Businesses can be required to register for VAT in EU member states, other than the one in which they are based if they supply goods via mail order to those states over a certain threshold. Businesses that are established in one member state but receive supplies in another member state may be able to reclaim VAT charged in the second state. To do so, businesses have a value added tax identification number
Value added tax identification number
A value added tax identification number or VAT identification number is an identifier used in many countries, including the countries of the European Union, for value added tax purposes....

. A similar directive, the Thirteenth VAT Directive, also allows businesses established outside the EU to recover VAT in certain circumstances.

Impact

In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, it is the most important source of state finance, accounting for approximately 45% of state revenues.

VAT fraud

One type of VAT fraud is missing trader fraud (also called "Missing Trader Intra-Community", "MTIC", or "carousel fraud") is the theft of VAT from a government by exploiting the way VAT is treated within multi-jurisdictional trading. The fraud exploits the fact that the movement of goods between member states is zero-rated. The fraudster charges VAT on the sale of goods, and then instead of paying this over to the government's collection authority, simply absconds, taking the VAT with him.

VAT rates

Country Rate (Standard) Rate (Reduced) Abbr. Name
20% 12% or 10% MwSt./USt. Mehrwertsteuer/Umsatzsteuer
21% 12% or 6% BTW
TVA
MWSt
Belasting over de toegevoegde waarde
Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée
Mehrwertsteuer
20% 9% ДДС Данък върху добавената стойност
15% 8% or 5% ΦΠΑ Φόρος Προστιθέμενης Αξίας
20% 10% DPH Daň z přidané hodnoty
25% none moms Meromsætningsafgift
20% 9% km käibemaks
23% 13% or 9% ALV
Moms
Arvonlisävero
Mervärdesskatt
19.6% 5.5% or 2.1% TVA Taxe sur la valeur ajoutée
19% 7% MwSt./USt. Mehrwertsteuer/Umsatzsteuer
23% http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8664161.stm 13% or 6.5%
(reduced by 30% to 13%, 6% and 3% on islands) http://www.accordancevat.com/2010-vat-package-alerts/Greek%20VAT%20Rate%20Increase
ΦΠΑ Φόρος Προστιθέμενης Αξίας
25% from 2012 it will be: 27% 18% or 5% ÁFA általános forgalmi adó
21% To rise to 22% in 2013, then to 24% in 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11829811 13.5%, 9%, 5.2% 4.8% or 0% VAT
CBL
Value Added Tax (English)
Cáin Bhreisluacha (Irish)
21% 10% or 4% IVA Imposta sul Valore Aggiunto
22% 12% PVN Pievienotās vērtības nodoklis
21% 9% or 5% PVM Pridėtinės vertės mokestis
15% 12%, 9%, 6%, or 3% TVA Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée
18% 7%, 5% or 0% VAT Taxxa tal-Valur Miżjud
19% 6% BTW Belasting over de toegevoegde waarde
23% 8%, 5% PTU/VAT Podatek od towarów i usług
23% 13% or 6% IVA Imposto sobre o Valor Acrescentado
          Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

 and Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

16% 8% or 4% IVA Imposto sobre o Valor Acrescentado
24% 9% or 5% TVA Taxa pe valoarea adăugată
20% 10% DPH Daň z pridanej hodnoty
20% 8.5% DDV Davek na dodano vrednost
18% 8% or 4% IVA Impuesto sobre el valor añadido
          Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

5% (is outside the European Union VAT area) 0% or 2% IGIC Impuesto General Indirecto Canario
25% 12% or 6% Moms Mervärdesskatt
20% 5% or 0% VAT Value Added Tax
          Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

0% (is outside the European Union VAT area)

See also

  • Sales tax
    Sales tax
    A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....

  • VAT-free imports from the Channel Islands
  • European Customs Information Portal (ECIP)
    European Customs Information Portal (ECIP)
    The European Customs Information Portal is an importing and exporting service provided by the EU for business operators of its Member States.-European Customs Information Portal background:...

  • VAT Information Exchange System
    VAT Information Exchange System
    VAT Information Exchange System is an electronic means of transmitting information relating to VAT-registration of companies registered in EU. The European Union requires that when goods or services are procured within the EU, VAT has to be paid only in the member state where the purchaser resides...

    (VIES)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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