EU Guide to VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA)
How do VAT and ViDA impact global tax legislation and compliance? The digital economy has changed how we do business globally, requiring VAT technology to adapt to emerging regulations.
What is VAT?
VAT (Value Added Tax) is a type of global consumption tax. It’s levied to the vast majority of goods and services that businesses sell, with exceptions that vary from jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction. VAT is charged by all EU states, though due to the complexities of cross-border commerce, VAT rules change from country-to-country.
Why does VAT exist, and why is it important?
VAT is a key revenue channel for governments. What makes it so valuable is that promotes stable and reliable transactions, which is important when it comes to generating money to pay for public services.
What are the basic principles of VAT?
VAT rules and regulations are varied across jurisdictions, but VAT is generally:
- Paid for by the end consumer.
- Included in the price of the product/service.
- Applied throughout the supply chain, from the manufacturing stages to the logistics stages.
What are the intended benefits of ViDA?
ViDA has been designed to benefit governments as well as businesses through more robust data analysis and forecasting. Both businesses and governments will have access to better quality data, meaning more accurate remittance and filing.
There’s currently a significant VAT gap, which VIDA seeks to reduce. The VAT gap is the shortfall between how much VAT revenue is expected to be generated, and how much revenue has actually been collected. This gap was estimated to be around €61 billion in 2021. The fact that there is a substantial gap suggests that there is an issue somewhere along the line, whether it be non-compliance or the impact of different VAT policies competing with each other. ViDA aims to keep VAT consistent, accurate, and fair across the EU, as well as helping make compliance more efficient.
ViDA aims to make it harder to evade VAT. Currently, it’s difficult to catch this while it's happening - VAT reports are normally inspected months after submission. Initiatives like e-invoicing are also being created to help mitigate this from happening.
What are the key components of ViDA?
The ViDA proposal can be split into these three key components:
- New digital reporting requirements, such as e-invoicing.
- New VAT rules for platform economy, affecting digital marketplaces.
- Single VAT Registration for all businesses selling to customers in the EU.
ViDA and E-Invoicing
Currently in the EU, businesses can request an exemption (or derogation) from mandated e-invoicing, opting for paper/digital invoices. ViDA will remove this exemption to help streamline invoicing.
New e-invoicing regulations aims to benefit both business and tax authorities. Paper trails for both internal and audit purposes will be fair easier to access, as real-time transactional data will only be a few clicks away.
What does e-invoicing look like under ViDA?
Make sure you meet ViDA's e-invoicing requirements before they impact your organisation. Here’s what you should know:
An e-invoice is not a ‘digitised invoice’, like a PDF.
An e-invoice needs to contain structured information and be sent to a specific centralised place.
E-invoicing requires real-time reporting to tax authorities.
Digital Reporting Requirements (DRR) are intended to standardise electronic invoicing transactional data across jurisdictions.
New regulations will affect information included on e-invoices.
This includes VAT numbers for suppliers and customers (if applicable), place of supply, and VAT rate applied.
ViDA will affect all businesses that wishing to trade with EU member states, as well as crossing certain thresholds, thus making them liable for VAT.
So how can businesses prepare for new ViDA regulations?
What are the best practices and compliance strategies? And can these help minimise liabilities? Here’s some ideas to get you started:
- Assess whether your VAT processes meet new regulatory standards. If not, start researching solutions, making sure to assess solutions with your business and its needs in mind.
- Prioritise VAT record-keeping and audit-preparedness.
- Keep on top of the latest news and developments regarding ViDA.
- Don’t leave your ViDA transition strategy to the very last minute. Plan and act as soon as possible!
How can Vertex help you with ViDA?
At Vertex, we have tax solutions ready to go to help your business support ViDA compliance. Automate your end-to-end tax process and say goodbye to manual filings.
Vertex VAT Compliance
Streamline VAT administrative tasks, helping you save time, money, and resources.
Vertex e-Invoicing
Easy-to-implement e-invoicing software to support however and wherever you do business.
Stay informed on VAT and ViDA.
The significance of ViDA can’t be understated. This is one of the biggest shake-ups to VAT regulations we’ve seen, and it’s impact will be widely felt not just in the EU but globally too. Although there will be some challenges along the way for business when it comes to implementing new VAT processes, the streamlining and simplification of said processes is set to be pretty positive. The best thing to do for businesses effected is stay informed and be prepared!