Council Decision (EU) 2020/1109 amending Directives (EU) 2017/2455 and (EU) 2019/1995 as regards the dates of transposition and application in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Author (Corporate)
Series Title
Series Details L 244, Pages 3-5
Publication Date 29/07/2020
Content Type

Summary:

Decision (EU) 2020/1109 adopted by the Council of the European Union on 20 July 2020, which introduces a number of amendments to Directive (EU) 2017/2455 and Directive (EU) 2019/1995 as regards dates of transposition and application of rules aimed at modernising cross-border B2C Value Added Tax (VAT) rules, in light of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

Further information:

Directive (EU) 2017/2455 and Directive (EU) 2019/1995 are both part of a package of legislation aimed at modernising VAT for cross-border B2C online commerce (also known as VAT e-commerce package). In both cases, the date of application was fixed to be 1 January 2021, allowing Member States some time to adapt their legislation and IT systems.

A state of play of the readiness of Member States was presented by the European Commission in February 2020, whereby two Member States raised concerns and requested a postponement for the entry into application. While initially support was provided to make sure the date of application was respected, the virus outbreak later caused a major impact on capacity across the European Union. An additional number of Member States were unable to conclude preparations.

A meeting was held on 24 April 2020 to assess readiness and the conclusion was that the provisions on the functioning of the VAT e-commerce package are based on the principle that all Member States should be in a position to apply them correctly. The objective of this proposal is therefore to postpone the date of application by six months, with a new date coming into effect on 1 July 2021.

The proposal was tabled by the European Commission on 8 May 2020. The Council of the European Union adopted the Decision on 20 July, which was published in the Official Journal on 29 July 2020.

Source Link Link to Main Source http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2020/1109/oj
Related Links
Official
EUR-Lex: COM(2020)198: Proposal for a Council Decision amending Directives (EU) 2017/2455 and (EU) 2019/1995 as regards the dates of transposition and application due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=COM:2020:198:FIN
European Parliament: Legislative Observatory: Procedure File for Proposal on VAT e-commerce package – distance sales of goods and services: postponement of the date of application due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?lang=en&reference=2020/0082(CNS)
Council of the European Union: Press Release, 24/06/2020: Taxation: Council agrees on the postponement of certain tax rules https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/06/24/taxation-council-agrees-on-the-postponement-of-certain-tax-rules/

Subject Categories
Subject Tags
Keywords ,
International Organisations