Decision (EU) 2019/309 authorising Lithuania to introduce 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 18 February 2019 authorising Lithuania to apply the reverse charge mechanism to hard drives.

Further information:

As a general rule, Article 193 of the VAT Directive stipulates that the taxable person supplying goods or services is normally liable to pay value added tax (VAT). In October 2018 Lithuania requested a derogation from Article 193 in order to apply the reverse charge mechanism to supplies of hard drives. Under this procedure, the taxable person to whom the supplies are made becomes liable for the payment of VAT.

Lithuania discovered VAT fraud in the sector of electronic goods such as laptops, mobile phones, tablets and hard drives. Lithuania undertook a number of measures to tackle and prevent the VAT fraud. Despite all the measures introduced, the information provided by Lithuania shows that these measures are not sufficient to prevent VAT fraud.

Given the potential positive impact of the measure in the fight against fraud discovered by Lithuania, in January 2019 the European Commission proposed to grant the derogation for a limited period, from 1 March 2019 until 28 February 2022.

EUR-Lex: COM(2019)9: Proposal for a Decision authorising Lithuania to introduce a special measure derogating from Article 193 of Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2019:009:FIN

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