Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax as regards a quick reaction mechanism against VAT fraud

In the Annual Growth Survey 2012 and its Annex IV ("Growth-friendly tax policies in Member States and better tax coordination in the EU"), the Commission has emphasized the need to raise the efficiency of VAT in the context of fiscal consolidation. It was pointed out that improving tax collection and tackling tax evasion more efficiently could contribute to an increase of government revenue.

VAT fraud schemes evolve rapidly and Member States are sometimes confronted with situations whereby the EU VAT law in force does not provide a legal base for the counteractions they wish to take. Member States may therefore be tempted to take immediate measures without an appropriate legal basis in the EU legislation. However, this situation remains unsatisfactory as these measures, even where they are appropriate and proportionate in relation to the fraud situation, could be challenged before the Courts because of the lack of a legal basis.

Making the EU VAT system more robust is also one of the key objectives set out in the Communication on the future of VAT presented on 6 December 2011 and the current proposal has been indicated as a priority action for pursuing that objective. The purpose of this proposal is therefore to foresee a procedure in the VAT Directive which, in very specific situations, would provide a legal base for Member States to take immediate measures. This would be called the Quick Reaction Mechanism ('QRM').

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)428: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:428:FIN

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