VAT: New Regulation on administrative cooperation

In October 2018, Regulation (EU) 2018/1541 (“Regulation”) amending Regulations (EU) 904/2010 and (EU) 2017/2454 as regards measures to strengthen administrative cooperation in the field of value added tax ("VAT") was adopted.

The Regulation is part of the VAT Action Plan, presented in April 2016, and follows the communication on the follow-up of this Action Plan of 4 October 2017. It aims at strengthening cooperation between Member States by giving them the means to fight VAT fraud faster and more effectively, notably by setting up an online information sharing system within Eurofisc (an anti-VAT fraud national experts network). The Regulation also seeks to strengthen cooperation between tax authorities and European law enforcement bodies. The Regulation entered into force on 22 October 2018 with most of the provisions being applied as of 1 January 2020.