EUROPEAN VAT COMPLIANCE

Transcription

1 KLUWER LAW INTERNATIONAL 2010 QUICK REFERENCE TO EUROPEAN VAT COMPLIANCE Chris Platteeuw and Pedro Pestana De Silva (eds) Wolters Kluwer Law & Business AUSTIN BOSTON CHICAGO NEW YORK THE NETHERLANDS

2 Foreword xv Part 1 General Section 1 About this Guide Background to the VAT in Europe 2-1 A. Principles of the VAT 2-2 B. VAT in the European Community (Pre-1993) 2-4 C. The European Union and its VAT System (Post-1993) VAT Treatment of Transactions 3-1 A. Define Your Transactions to Determine Your VAT. Compliance Needs 3-2 B. Typical Transactions and Their VAT Treatment 3-4 C. Supply of Goods: Overview 3-5 D. Supply of Goods: Domestic Supply 3-6 E. Supply of Goods: Exports 3-9 F. Supply of Goods: Intra-Community Supply 3-10 G. Purchase of Goods: Domestic Sale and Purchase 3-12 H. Purchase of Goods: Imports 3-13 I. Purchase of Goods: Intra-Community Acquisition of Goods 3-14 J. Supply and Purchase of Services K. Supply and Purchase of Services in 2010: Exceptions B2C andb2b 3-17 L. Supply and Purchase of Services in 2010: Exceptions B2C only 3-19 M. Supply and Purchase of Services in VAT Rates in the EU 4-1 A. VAT Rates in the EU: An Overview 4-2 B. Table: List of VAT Rates Applied in the Member States Specialized Areas in Cross-Border Trade 5-1 A. Registration Needs for Distance Sales 5-2 B. Registration Needs for Supply with Assembly 5-5 C. Avoiding Registrations for Occasional Transactions and Low Volumes 5-6 D. Avoiding Registrations through Triangulation Simplification 5-7 E. Avoiding Registrations through Consignment or Call-Off Stock Simplification 5-9 F. Avoiding Registrations through Registers of Temporary Movements: Introduction 5-12 vii

3 G. Avoiding Registrations through Registers of Temporary Movements: Movements That Can Be Recorded through These Registers 5-13 H. Avoiding Registrations through Registers of Temporary Movements: Example of Entries in Register of Temporary Movements 5-14 The System of VAT Registration 6-1 A. European VAT Reporting through Multiple VAT Registrations 6-3 B. The Purpose of a VAT Registration 6-5 C. VAT Number Format and Best Practices in Validity Checks 6-6 D. One Stop Shop VAT Registration for Radio and Television Broadcasting Services*and Certain Electronically Supplied Services: B2C 6-9 E. Registration as a Locally Established Company versus as a Non-established Company 6-11 F. Locally Established Subsidiaries and Traders 6-12 G. Non-established Companies 6-13 H. Is a Local Presence or Branch Office Needed to Register a Non-established Company? 6-14 I. Does the VAT Registration of a Non-established Company Entail Any Local Corporate Taxation Consequences? 6-15 J. Should One Appoint a Fiscal Representative to Register a Non-established Company? 6-16 K. Who Acts as Fiscal Representative? 6-20 L. Are the VAT Accounting Requirements of a Non-established Company Comparable to Those of Local Companies? 6-21 M. How Does a Company Register for the VAT? 6-22 N. How Long Does a VAT Registration Take? 6-25 VAT Registration: Special Areas of Concern 7-1 A. VAT Grouping 7-2 B. How Does the VAT Group Report? 7-3 C. Can Non-resident Companies Be Members of a VAT Group? 7-4 D. Collective VAT Numbers 7-5 E. Bonded Warehouses and VAT Warehouses 7-6 VAT Accounting Obligations 8-1 A. Basic Accounting Obligations 8-2 VAT Invoicing Requirements 9-1 A. The Importance of Invoices 9-2 B. Who Is Obliged to Invoice? 9-4 C. Self-Billing and Outsourcing of Invoicing 9-5 D. Mandatory Invoice Requirements 9-6 E. E-Invoicing 9-10 VIII

4 10 Recordkeeping Requirements 10-1 A. Books and Records to Keep 10-2 B. Retention Periods and Storage Location Periodic VAT Reporting Obligations 11-1 A. An Overview of the Periodical Returns : 11-2 B. What Is Declared in the VAT Return? 11-3 C. The Reporting Periods and the Submission Deadlines 11-4 D. Paper versus Electronic Returns 11-6 E. Nil Returns 11-7 F. Corrections in the VAT Returns 11-8 G. VAT Payments 11-9 H. Table: Local Bank Account Requirements for VAT Payments by Non-established Companies I. VAT Refunds J. Table: Local Bank Account Requirements for VAT Refunds K. Cash Flow Improving Licenses and Regimes L. European Sales Lists M. European Purchase Lists.': N. Summarizing Annual Returns Annual Sales (and Purchases) Lists Periodic Intrastat Declarations 12-1 A. What Is Intrastat? ' B. Why Is Information about Trade among EU Member States Needed? 12-3 C. Goods Movement Reported in Intrastat 12-4 D. Intrastat Exclusions 12-5 E. Countries of Reporting, Traders Concerned and Threshold 12-7 F. Intrastat Periods and Submission Deadlines 12-9 G. Paper Intrastat Returns H. Electronic Intrastat Returns The IDEP/CN8 Software Package J. Links between the Intrastat and the VAT System K. Overview of the Data Elements Reported in Intrastat L. Period of Reporting M. Corrections N. Nil Returns O. Penalties for Not Respecting the Intrastat Obligation VAT Audits 13-1 A. What is a VAT Audit? 13-2 B. How Are Companies Selected for Audit? 13-3 C. Screening Tax Returns 13-4 D. Projects on Business Sectors 13-5 E. Requests for VAT Refunds 13-6 IX

5 F. Random Selection 13-7 G. What Form Will the Audit Take? 13-8 H. Main Points of Attention during VAT Audits 13-9 I. Completeness of the Transactions Declared J. Entitlement to the VAT Recovery Claimed K. Entitlement to the VAT Exemptions Proving VAT Exemptions for Exports and Intra-Community Supplies 14-1 A. The Importance of Storing Proof of Exports and IC-Supplies 14-2 B. Proving Exports with Paper Export Documents 14-3 C. Example Document: Export Document - Copy 3 of the SAD 14-4 D. Proving Exports Electronically: The Future Export Control System (ECS) 14-5 E. Proving Intra-Community Dispatches: Conditions for VAT Exempt 14-7 F. Proving Intra-Community Dispatches: Evidence of Dispatch to Another Member State 14-8 G. Example Document: CMR Transport Document VAT Refunds for Non-registered Companies 15-1 A. Refund of Foreign VAT to EU Business: 8th Directive Claims 15-2 B. Refund of Foreign VAT to Non-EU Business: 13th Directive Claims 15-4 C. Making 8th or 13th Directive Claims 15-5 D. Table: Minimum Amounts of Recovery 15-7 E. Table: Repayment Periods 15-9 F. Example Document: Standard Refund Claim Form G. Example Document: Certificate of VAT Status Place of Supply: New Rules and Requirements 16-1 A. The 'VAT Package' 16-2 B. Place of Supply: New Basic Rule 16-3 C. Exceptions for B2B and B2C Transactions 16-4 D. Impact of B2B Exceptions 16-5 E. A New ESL Obligation for Services 16-6 F. Exceptions for B2C Transactions Only 16-8 G. Refunds of VAT Incurred in Other Member States 16-9 Part 2 VAT Compliance Procedures Austria AT-3 Section 1. Defining the Need to Register AT-6 AT-10 AT-11 AT-13

6 Belgium BE-1 BE-4 BE-10 BE-11 BE-13 Bulgaria BG-1 BG-4 Section 2. Requirements Regarding Fiscal Representatives BG-7 BG-8 BG-11 Cyprus Section 4. VAT, ESL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations Czech Republic CY-1 CY-4 CY-7 CY-8 CY-10 CZ-1 CZ-4 CZ-9 CZ-10 CZ-12 Denmark DK-1 DK-4 DK-7 DK-8 DK-10 Estonia Finland France EE-1 EE-4 EE-7 EE-8 EE-10 FI-1 FI-4 FI-10 FI-11 FI-13 FR-1 FR-3 FR-8 XI

7 Section 3. VAT-Registration and Deregistration Section 4. VAT and European Sales Listing (ESL)/Intrastat (DEB) Reporting Obligations FR-9 FR-11 Germany DE-1 DE-4 DE-7 Section 3. VAT Registration,and Deregistration DE-8 DE-10 Greece *. EL-1 EL-4 EL-6 EL-7 Section 4. VAT, ESPL, Intrastat and ASPL Reporting Obligations EL-9 Hungary HU-1 Section 1. The.Obligation to VAT-Register HU-4 HU-9 HU-10 HU-12 Iceland IS-1 IS-3 IS-6 IS-7 IS-9 Ireland IE-1 IE-4 IE-9 IE-10 IE-12 Italy IT-1 Section If The Obligation to VAT-Register IT-3 IT-7 IT-8 IT-10 Latvia LV-1 LV-4 LV-8 LV-9 LV-11 XII

8 Lithuania LT-1 LT-4 Section 2. Fiscal Representatives LT-9 LT-10 LT-12 Luxembourg LU-1 LU-4 LU-7 LU-8 Section 4. VAT, ESL arfd Intrastat Reporting Obligations LU-10 Malta MT-1 MT-4 MT-6 MT-7 MT-9 The Netherlands., NL-1 NL-3 NL-7 NL-9 Section 4. VAT and Intrastat Reporting Obligations NL-11 Norway Poland Portugal Section 1. VAT Registration Section 4. VAT, ESL, ASPL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations Romania NO-1 NO-3 NO-6 NO-7 NO-9 PL-1 PL-4 PL-8 PL-9 PL-11 PT-1 PT-4 PT-7 PT-8 PT-10 RO-1 RO-4 RO-8 XIII

9 Section 4. VAT, ESL, Intrastat and Semi-ASPL Reporting Obligations RO-9 RO-11 Slovakia SK-1 SK-4 SK-8 Section 3. VAT Registration and. Deregistration SK-9 SK-11 Slovenia r. SI-1 SI-4 SI-7 SI-8 SI-10 Spain ES-1 ES-4, ES-7 ES-8 Section 4. VAT, ESPL, ASPL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations ES-10 Sweden SE-1 SE-4 SE-8 Section 3. VAT Registration SE-9 SE-11 Switzerland CH-1 CH-3 CH-6 CH-7 Section 4. VAT and Intrastat Reporting Obligations CH-10 United Kingdom UK-1 Section Y. The Obligation to VAT-Register UK-4 UK-9 UK-10 Section 4. VAT, ESL, RCSL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations UK-13 XIV