New rules on VAT rates offer Member States more flexibility while supporting the EU’s green, digital and public health priorities

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The Commission welcomes the agreement reached by EU finance ministers today to update the current rules governing value-added tax (VAT) rates for goods and services. These new rules will provide governments with more flexibility in the rates they can apply and ensure equal treatment […]

Coronavirus Response: Commission proposes to exempt vital goods and services distributed by the EU from VAT in times of crisis

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission has today proposed to exempt from Value Added Tax (VAT) goods and services made available by the European Commission, EU bodies and agencies to Member States and citizens during times of crisis. This responds to the experience gained  during the course […]

Coronavirus response: Commission welcomes agreement on crucial VAT relief for vaccines and testing kits

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The Commission has welcomed the adoption today of important new measures which will enable Member States to relieve EU hospitals, medical practitioners and individuals of Value-Added Tax (VAT) when acquiring coronavirus vaccines and testing kits. The new rules, adopted unanimously by all Member States […]

Closing VAT loopholes for sales through online platforms

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. MEPs on Thursday voted on measures specifying how large online platforms are to contribute to closing loopholes that hinder the collection of VAT. The new rules, led through Parliament by Ondřej Kovařík (Renew, CZ), would help member states recover around €5 billion in tax […]

Taxation: Commission refers Germany to the Court for its failure to apply EU rules on VAT for farmers

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Today the Commission has decided to refer Germany to the Court of Justice of the EU for not applying the EU Value Added Tax (VAT) scheme for farmers correctly. Under current EU rules, Member States can apply a flat-rate VAT scheme (Council Directive 2006/112/EC) […]

Green light for VAT overhaul to simplify system and cut fraud

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. MEPs on Wednesday backed the bulk of the European Commission’s proposed reform of the VAT system, while proposing some adjustments, such as to set a maximum VAT rate. Two pieces of legislation were put to the vote. One aims to facilitate trade, especially for […]

Spanish vote – bad luck for Greece: Does Iphigenia need to be sacrificed for favourable winds to blow in Eurozone?

Greece is running out not only of time but also luck. The country’s economy has been pending in limbo for the past four months, exhausting all its resources to survive the financial suffocation that the European Central Bank has imposed following the political orders by Berlin, Paris and Brussels, violating the bank’s “independent” role in the European […]

ECOFIN: Protecting bankers and tax-evaders

It is customary for the European Union, when the club cannot arrive at a decision acceptable by everybody, the outcome is a distorted compromise. Of course, the burning issue of the resolution of failing banks could not depart from this rule yesterday at the ECOFIN Council, with the 28 ministers of Finance discussing this issue […]

False promises to Small and Medium Enterprises

After the minimal or zero success that the Small Business Act (SBA) of 2008 had recorded during the past four years, in failing to ease the life of Small and Medium Enterprises, the European Commission launched yesterday another similar initiative. This time the “Commission wants to simplify life for SMEs by easing the top 10 […]

Capital transaction tax on Ecofin table

Next Tuesday 22 January, the Economic and Finance Ministers Council (ECOFIN) is expected to meet in Brussels. As a main item in its agenda has being tabled the Financial Transactions Tax (FTT). So far only 11 EU member states out of the 27 have agreed to go through with it. The 11 participating EU countries are […]

Eurozone: Black economy loves the South

  Black economy has been traditionally the weak point for a number of European countries in the South of the Old Continent. Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta to name only the Eurozone countries with black economy percentages around 20%, are usually on the head of European Commission’s country lists with economic activities outside […]