In VAT reforms in Europe: past, present and future,TMF Group’s team of experts look at the past decade of reforms across the continent, and how this area will evolve over the next ten years.

VAT Technical Manager and co-author of the paper, Dr Robert Nagy, said: “A more unified and simplified VAT system for Europe is still the ultimate goal – and now that it appears a single VAT return is off the table, the EU Commission is likely to instead turn its attention to achieving its aim by:

• Expanding the MOSS scheme to make it easier for businesses to report on cross-border transactions, and consequently achieve administration savings
• Revising the Place of Supply rules in respect of the supply of goods, to reduce the compliance burden.

Dr Nagy continued: “The current VAT system in Europe is complex and characterised by varying rates for, and different treatments of, goods and services, depending on the country in question.

“While a single VAT return would have cut out a lot of that complexity, reduced bureaucracy and easier cross-border trade can still be achieved by amending other schemes that have previously either not been used to their full potential, or have simply not been completely explored to date.”

TMF Group is marking ten years of its VAT service line Beginning in 2005 as a small team covering the UK, Ireland and Germanic countries, the VAT team now consists of a large, multi-lingual group of experts with experience across many different industries. TMF Group is the world’s largest independent provider of VAT and GST registration, returns, recovery and compliance.