EC indicates VAT guidelines for the next years

In the recent communication to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee COM (2016) dated 7 April 2016, the European Commission, admitting the need of a modernization of the VAT system – which, after more than 40 years since its coming into force, seems to be unable to keep pace with today’s EU needs – outlines the action plan that it intends to adopt, mainly in a perspective of a system simplification and a greater attention to SMEs, which will act as a driving force for the development and growth of the whole EU. The need to boost jobs, economic growth and investments is based on the needs of companies asking for compliance simplification and cost reduction. The underlying theme of the action plan developed by the Commission is the fight against fraud risk, in order to reduce the gap between theoretical VAT revenue and the actually collected tax amount.