Brussels – The EU is ready for a revolution in VAT declaration. The Ecofin Council approved the directive to introduce and use an electronic certificate for goods exempt from the payment of value-added tax, replacing the existing paper certificate.
The change will not be immediate. There will be a transition period with both the paper and electronic versions, somewhat like with the introduction of the euro: dual circulation for a phased withdrawal of paper. Compared to the original Commission proposal, the Council shortened and postponed the transition period, originally planned to last four years (2026-2030), to only one year (2031-2032). The introduction and approval of the amendment was based on the belief that the delayed start date “should help tax authorities spread in time the necessary IT developments,” the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council said.
The Hungarian Minister of Finance, Mihaly Varga, and president-in-office of the Ecofin Council said he was satisfied. “We are taking another modernizing step with this agreement on the electronic VAT exemption certificate, that will put an end to paper certificates to be signed by hand.” It will save administrative time and costs.
Having approved the political agreement, now the technical work remains. The exact electronic format, including the necessary IT specifications, will be discussed in expert groups and determined in Commission implementing acts. From a legal perspective, the agreements will go through technical and linguistic checks before being presented to the Council for formal adoption.
It is another piece of the EU’s work on taxation, VAT, and digitization of the economy. The new common rules against e-commerce fraud will come into force from 2030.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
