The European Parliament has adopted its position on the Commission proposal on VAT distance sales of goods and e-commerce. The file was led in the Parliament by the MEP Ondrej Kovarik (RE/Czech Republic).
In the opinion, the Parliament notably supports introducing new requirements on market platforms such as Amazon and eBay. The platforms will have to keep data on sales made through their interfaces even when sellers outside the EU have not fulfilled their tax obligations.
EU Member States are still negotiating on the file and will have to adopt it by unanimity.
The Finnish Presidency has included public country by country reporting (CBCR) on the agenda of the ministerial competitiveness Council meeting, taking place on 28 November.
This follows the failure to progress on the file at a technical working party meeting on 25 October. The Finnish Presidency appears to be following up on its commitment to the European Parliament to do what it can to untangle the file, and has therefore submitted it to the decision of political leaders.
It remains to be seen whether the ministers will find an agreement, in which case the Council would begin negotiating with the European Parliament on their respective positions. Alternatively, a failure by the ministers to agree could lead to the file being buried.
Case C‑68/18: Tax rate applicable to energy products
The OECD has published the stakeholder comments it received as part of its consultation for international tax reform, under Pillar 1.
As a next step, the OECD organised on 21-22 November in Paris a public conference to gather further input from stakeholders.
Accountancy Europe also submitted its response to the consultation.
Czech Republic is joining the bandwagon of countries introducing domestic unilateral digital tax measures.
The Czech government has backed a 7% digital tax aimed at large tech companies, although the measure still has to be approved by its parliament. The government projects that the tax would raise about EUR 200 million annually. It would apply to companies that have at least EUR 750 million in global turnover and at least 200,000 users in the Czech Republic plus approximately EUR 4 million domestic turnover. Read moreThis curated content was brought to you by Johan Barros, Accountancy Europe policy manager since 2015. You can send him tips by email, follow him on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.
