PURPOSE: to adopt simplified rules VAT invoicing.
LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Directive 2010/45/EU amending
Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax as regards the
rules on invoicing.
CONTENT: the Council adopted a directive aimed at
simplifying value-added tax (VAT) invoicing requirements, in particular as
regards electronic invoicing.
The new directive sets out to ensure the acceptance by
tax authorities of e-invoices under the same conditions as for paper invoices,
and to remove legal obstacles to the transmission and storage of e-invoices.
The new Directive also comprises measures to help tax
authorities ensure that tax is paid so as to better tackle VAT fraud. These
include:
- clarifying
the rules concerning the chargeability of VAT on intra-Community
supplies of goods and on intra-Community acquisitions of goods in order
to ensure the uniformity of the information submitted in recapitulative
statements and the timeliness of the exchange of information by means of
those statements;
- allowing
Member States the option of allowing VAT to be accounted using a cash
accounting scheme which allows the supplier to pay VAT to the
competent authority when he receives payment for a supply and which
establishes his right of deduction when he pays for a supply;
- providing legal
certainty for businesses regarding their invoicing obligations, it
should be clearly stated which Member State’s invoicing rules apply;
- imposing a
harmonised time limit for the issue of an invoice with respect to
certain cross- border supplies with a view to improving the functioning
of the internal market;
- allowing taxable
persons to issue a simplified invoice in any of the following
cases: (a) where the amount of the invoice is not higher than EUR 100 or
the equivalent in national currency; (b) where the invoice issued is a
document or message treated as an invoice;
- clarifying
that, where a taxable person stores online invoices which he has issued
or received, the Member State in which the tax is due, in addition to
the Member State in which the taxable person is established, should have
the right to access those invoices for control purposes.
By 31 December
2016 at the latest, the Commission shall present to the European Parliament
and the Council an overall assessment report, based on an independent
economic study, on the impact of the invoicing rules applicable from 1
January 2013 and notably on the extent to which they have effectively led to
a decrease in administrative burdens for businesses, accompanied where
necessary by an appropriate proposal to amend the relevant rules.
ENTRY INTO
FORCE: 11/08/2010.
TRANSPOSITION:
31/12/2012.
APPLICATION:
01/01/2013.