Introduction At the beginning of May the Group on the Future of VAT (GFV) gathered to discuss e-invoicing in respect to the VAT in the Digital Age project.[1] In a recent blog post we have already shown how complex this topic is. This also becomes apparent from the minutes of the GFVs meeting, which show the many questions raised by the European Commission (EC) to the delegates. In the following we hope to add to the ongoing discussion by providing our view on the questions raised and the answers provided by the delegates.

Introduction The Peppol network is increasingly being used as the infrastructure to exchange e-invoices by companies all over the world. One of the most recent developments is that Belgium might choose Peppol to implement mandatory e-invoicing. Therefore, in addition to the real-time reporting (or CTC) plans of the OpenPeppol organisation, summitto developed a pilot where real-time reporting is integrated in the Peppol network. In the following we will explain how invoice information is transmitted to the tax authority via this pilot.

Introduction France, Italy, Poland. What do these countries have in common? First of all, they are all members of the EU. And second, among many other similarities, they all requested and obtained a derogation to articles 218 and 232 of the 2006 EU VAT directive in order to be able to implement mandatory e-invoicing. In this blogpost, we want to discuss how the EU derogation system works and why it is so important.

Introduction Real-time reporting and digital reporting requirements are advancing all over Europe. We discuss these developments with international indirect tax specialist Aiki Kuldkepp. Aiki has an astonishing career in the world of taxation and currently holds the position of senior manager at Grant Thornton. Come join us in a discussion about the future of VAT in Europe and how technology can help. Aiki is convinced that the “modernisation of reporting systems will help to increase the trust between member states” but she’s also aware of the difficulty of harmonising national DDRs in the EU.

Introduction In the last couple of years we had the honour to speak to many top-tier VAT experts from all over the world in our series VAT Talks. The knowledge they shared is invaluable for any VAT professional. Therefore, after an episode about confidentiality and the advantages of real-time reporting, in the following we will share the experts’ view on how companies can optimally benefit from real-time reporting. Focus on digitalisation of VAT reporting and other business processes Many VAT experts emphasised that by implementing real-time reporting VAT compliance can be fully digitalised and even (to a certain extent) automated.

Introduction Recently the European Parliament called on the Commission “to stand for the expansion of e-invoicing and calls for the introduction of an EU e-invoicing standard [sic] harmonising”.[1] This idea seems to be supported by many EU Member States and also private organisations. But what does this need for harmonisation mean exactly? Isn’t there already the pan-European e-invoicing standard EN 16931? In the following we will try to answer these questions.

Introduction China’s share in the world economy and political influence has been steadily growing since Deng Xiaoping’s reforms at the end of the 70’s. The liberalisation of the Chinese economy required additional revenue for the state. As one of the tools, China introduced VAT in 1984. Ten years later, the Chinese government developed a nationwide value-added tax administration and monitoring system, better known as the Golden Tax System (GTS). The aim of this blogpost is to develop a better understanding of the Chinese GTS and to highlight the differences to European reporting systems and TX++.

Introduction In a previous blog post we discussed several real-time reporting models for VAT. Now it’s time to discuss periodic reporting solutions and especially those implemented in the EU. Following our own research, 10 out of 27 EU Member States implemented such a solution at the moment of writing (See Table 1). In the following we will first explain what periodic reporting for VAT is, after which we explain the differences between periodic reporting and real-time reporting.

Introduction After analysing real-time reporting systems in several countries around the world in our previous blog-posts, we wish to focus today on one of the first real-time reporting systems of Asia: the South Korean one. South Korea introduced a real-time reporting system as far back as 2011 and is one of the most advanced countries in this area in Asia. In order to better understand how the system works, we will first present an overview of the developments which led to the current system in the country.

Introduction When discussing the modernisation of the EU VAT system, often reverse charge is mentioned as a solution to tackle VAT fraud and close the VAT gap. In the following we will provide an introduction to the reverse charge mechanism, explain why it is actually not the best tool to fight VAT fraud and discuss how reverse charge can co-exist with real-time reporting systems such as summitto’s solution. What is reverse charge?