Decicion 2013/676/EU authorising Romania to continue to apply a special measure derogating from Article 193 of Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax

Summary:

Council Implementing Decision of 15 November 2013 authorising Romania to continue to apply the reverse charge mechanism to timber and wood products.

Further information:

Following a request submitted by Romania in 2009, Decision 2010/583/EU authorised Romania to apply a derogating measure pursuant to Article 395 of the VAT Directive in order to designate the recipient as the person liable for the payment of VAT in the case of supplies of wood products by taxable persons (reverse charge). The request was approved and Romania was authorised to apply the reverse charge to the above-mentioned supplies until 31 December 2013.

On 13 March 2013, Romania requested an extension of the derogation. The forestry sector in Romania consists of a large number of small resellers and intermediaries which have proved to be very difficult to control for the tax authorities. The supplies are often made to larger, well established businesses, which are therefore easier to control. The reverse charge has proved to be an effective instrument without any adverse impact on fraud at the retail sector or fraud in other Member States or sectors.

From the information provided, a prolongation of the derogation seems justifiable. An extension should be limited in time in order to assess whether the conditions on which it is based would still be valid. The Commission therefore proposed that the request should be granted until 31 December 2016 and that Romania should present a report, including a review of the efficiency of the measure and an evaluation of the risk of fraud in the wood sector, if a new extension request is envisaged beyond that date.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)585: Proposal for a Decision authorising Romania to continue to apply a special measure derogating from Article 193 of Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax http:s//eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:585:FIN

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