New technologies in VAT reporting, collection and auditing: legal opportunities and challenges”

Billions of euros are being lost yearly by EU Member States (MS) due to fraud related to Value Added Tax (VAT) . VAT fraud erodes budgets of both MS and the EU and leads to distortions of competition. It affects honest businesses and consumers and violates the very fundaments of the Internal Market.

The loss of tax revenue impedes the fulfilment of redistributive tasks of the MS and thus their role in protection of basic economic and social rights of individuals.

The advancement of new technologies – including big data analysis and ever more complex algorithms – has the potential to significantly reducing VAT fraud across the EU.

The overall aim of the project on “New technologies in VAT reporting, collection and auditing: legal opportunities and challenges” (VATTECH) is to investigate – from a legal perspective - the opportunities and challenges in the use of new technologies in reporting, collection and auditing of VAT.

I will do this by:a)Mapping the new technologies used within the VAT area, identify the most efficient ones along with the legal base and background related to these technologies;b)Evaluating the identified technologies based on functionality and consistency with taxpayer’s rights, and the existing EU’s legal framework;c)Based on a) and b), assessing the potential (functional as well as legal) for extension and harmonization of the evaluated technologies to the whole of EU.My ambition is to provide important, new insights into the EU VAT system, and through that, to make a significant contribution to the improvement of the tools to combat VAT fraud, administrative cooperation and exchange of information on VAT between and across EU MS.