Council Directive 2008/117/EC of 16 December 2008 amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax to combat tax evasion connected with intra-Community transactions
Date: 2008-12-16
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: VAT, administrative formalities, domestic market, fraud, intra-EU trade, tax evasion

20.1.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 14/7

DIRECTIVES

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2008/117/EC

of 16 December 2008

amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax to combat tax evasion
connected with intra-Community transactions

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community, and in particular Article 93 thereof,

establishing the European

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (2),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

The evasion of value added tax (VAT) has a significant
impact on the Member States’ tax revenue and distorts
economic activity in the single market by creating unjus­
tified flows of goods and by placing goods on the market
at abnormally low prices.

of

the

shortcomings

intra-Community VAT
The
arrangements, and in particular
the
the system for
exchange of information on supplies of goods within
the Community, as laid down by Council Directive
2006/112/EC (3), are one of
this tax
evasion. In particular, the time that elapses between a
infor­
transaction and the corresponding exchange of
mation under the VAT information exchange system is
an obstacle to the effective use of that information to
tackle fraud.

the causes of

to combat VAT evasion effectively,

In order
is
necessary for the administration of the Member State
in which the VAT is chargeable to receive information
on intra-Community supplies of goods within a deadline
not exceeding one month.

it

(1) Opinion of 4.12.2008 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(2) Opinion of 22.10.2008 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(3) OJ L 347, 11.12.2006, p. 1.

information to be
In order for the cross-checking of
intra-Community trans­
for combating fraud,
useful
actions should be declared for the same tax period by
both the supplier and the purchaser or customer.

In view of changes in the business environment and
operative tools,
these
declarations can be made by simple electronic procedures
in order
to reduce the administrative burden to a
minimum.

is desirable to ensure that

it

to

be

the

order

States

should

balance

allowed

preserve

administrative

between the
the
In
Community’s objectives in combating tax evasion and
burden on economic
reducing
operators, Member
to
authorise operators to submit on a quarterly basis the
recapitulative statements concerning intra-Community
supplies of goods where their amount is not significant.
It is appropriate that Member States wishing to organise
this proposal
a progressive entry into application of
this amount at a
could, on a transitory basis,
higher level. Likewise, Member States should be allowed
to authorise operators to submit
the information on
intra-Community supplies of services on a quarterly
basis.

set

The impact of the speeding-up of the exchange of infor­
mation on Member States’ ability to combat VAT fraud
as well as the option mechanisms should be assessed by
the Commission after one year of application of the new
measures, in particular with a view to determine whether
these option mechanisms should be maintained.

Since the objectives of the proposed action to tackle VAT
evasion cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member
States, whose action in the matter depends on infor­
mation collected by the other Member States, and can
therefore, by reason of the need to involve all Member
States, be better achieved at Community level,
the
Community may adopt measures in accordance with
the principle of subsidiarity, as set out in Article 5 of
the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of propor­
tionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not
go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those
objectives.

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(9)

Directive 2006/112/EC should therefore be amended
accordingly.

(10)

the Interinstitutional
In accordance with point 34 of
Agreement on better law-making (1), Member States are
encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interest
of the Community, their own tables, which will, as far as
possible, illustrate the correlation between this Directive
and their transposition measures, and to make them
public,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Directive 2006/112/EC is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 64(2) shall be replaced by the following:

‘2.
Supplies of services for which VAT is payable by the
customer pursuant
to Article 196, which are supplied
continuously over a period of more than one year and
which do not give rise to statements of account or
payments during that period shall be regarded as being
completed on expiry of each calendar year until such time
as the supply of services comes to an end.

Member States may provide that, in certain cases other than
those referred to in the previous paragraph, the continuous
supply of goods or services over a period of time is to be
regarded as being completed at least at intervals of one year.’;

2.

in Article 66, the following subparagraph shall be added:

‘The derogation provided for in the first paragraph shall not,
however, apply to supplies of services in respect of which
VAT is payable by the customer pursuant to Article 196.’;

3. Article 263 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 263

1.
The recapitulative statement shall be drawn up for each
calendar month within a period not exceeding one month
and in accordance with procedures to be determined by the
Member States.

However, Member States,

in accordance with the
1a.
conditions and limits which they may lay down, may
allow taxable
recapitulative
statement for each calendar quarter within a time limit not

persons

submit

the

to

(1) OJ C 321, 31.12.2003, p. 1.

exceeding one month from the end of the quarter, where the
total quarterly amount, excluding VAT, of the supplies of
goods as referred to in Articles 264(1)(d) and 265(1)(c)
does not exceed either in respect of the quarter concerned
or in respect of any of the previous four quarters the sum of
EUR 50 000 or its equivalent in national currency.

The option provided for in the first subparagraph shall cease
to be applicable after the end of the month during which the
the supplies of goods as
total value, excluding VAT, of
referred to in Article 264(1)(d) and 265(1)(c) exceeds,
in
respect of the current quarter, the sum of EUR 50 000 or
its equivalent in national currency. In this case, a recapitu­
lative statement shall be drawn up for the month(s) which
has (have) elapsed since the beginning of the quarter, within
a time limit not exceeding one month.

1b.
Until 31 December 2011, Member States are allowed
to set the sum mentioned in paragraph 1a at EUR 100 000
or its equivalent in national currency.

1c.
In the case of supplies of services as referred to in
in accordance with the
Article 264(1)(d), Member States,
conditions and limits which they may lay down, may
allow taxable
recapitulative
statement for each calendar quarter within a time limit not
exceeding one month from the end of the quarter.

persons

submit

the

to

Member States may, in particular, require the taxable persons
who carry out supplies of both goods and services as
referred to in Article 264(1)(d) to submit the recapitulative
statement in accordance with the deadline resulting from
paragraphs 1 to 1b.

2. Member States shall allow, and may require, the reca­
referred to in paragraph 1 to be
pitulative statement
in accordance with
submitted by electronic file transfer,
conditions which they lay down.’;

4. Article 264(2) shall be replaced by the following:

‘2.
The value referred to in paragraph 1(d) shall be
submission established in
declared for
accordance with Article 263(1) to (1c) during which VAT
became chargeable.

the period of

The amounts referred to in paragraph 1(f) shall be declared
for the period of submission established in accordance with
Article 263(1) to (1c) during which the person acquiring the
goods was notified of the adjustment.’;

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5. Article 265(2) shall be replaced by the following:

‘2.
The value referred to in paragraph 1(c) shall be
declared for
submission established in
accordance with Article 263(1) to (1b) during which VAT
became chargeable.’.

the period of

Article 2

On the basis of information provided by the Member States, the
Commission shall present, no later than 30 June 2011, a report
assessing the impact of Article 263(1) of Directive 2006/112/EC
on Member States’ ability to fight against VAT fraud connected
with intra-Community supplies of goods and services as well as
the usefulness of the options provided for in Article 263(1a) to
(1c), as well as, depending on the conclusions of the report, the
appropriate proposals.

Article 3

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations
and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this
Directive with effect
from 1 January 2010. They shall
forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those
provisions and a correlation table between those provisions and
this Directive.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain
a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a
reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member
States shall determine how such reference is to be made.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the
text of the main provisions of national law which they adopt in
the field covered by this Directive.

Article 4

This Directive shall enter into force on the day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 5

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 16 December 2008.

For the Council
The President

R. BACHELOT-NARQUIN