Common system of value added tax (VAT): treatment of vouchers

The European Parliament adopted by 602 votes to 24, with 37 abstentions, in the framework of a special legislative procedure (Parliament consultation), a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax, as regards the treatment of vouchers.

Parliament approved the Commission proposal as amended:

Scope, transparency and neutrality: a new recital states that in order to eradicate opportunities for tax evasion and tax fraud, to increase VAT collection from vouchers and hence increase public revenue, it is necessary to reinforce the scope, neutrality and transparency with regard to tax treatment of transactions involving vouchers.

Members also propose clarifying the different definitions:

• “place of supply”: shall mean the Member State in which the underlying supply of goods or services takes place;
• “multi-purpose voucher”: shall mean any voucher, other than a discount or rebate voucher, which does not constitute a single-purpose voucher and which entitles the holder to receive goods or services where neither those goods or services nor the place of supply of the Member State where they are to be taxed are sufficiently identified and, as a consequence, the VAT treatment of the voucher cannot be determined with certainty at the date of the sale or issuance;
• “discount voucher”: means a voucher carrying a right to receive a price discount or rebate with regard to a supply of goods or services which is expressed either as a percentage or as a fixed amount with a nominal value.

Taxable amount: an amendment stipulates that the taxable amount of the supply of goods or services redeemed against a multi-purpose voucher shall be equal to the nominal value of that voucher in fact used to acquire those goods and services.

Review: by 1 January 2017, the Commission shall review the application of Directive 2006/112/EC on its economic and fiscal impact. That report shall include an analysis of the impact of this Directive on the economies of the Member States.