Public Consultation on the implementation of the EU VAT E-Commerce Directive (till July 1, 2021)

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Christos Staikouras puts as of today, June 24, 2021, day Thursday at 23:00 in public electronic consultation, the draft law ” Incorporation in Greek legislation of certain articles of Directives (EU) 2017/2455, (EU) 2019 / 1995 and (EU) 2018/1910 as regards certain liabilities arising from value added tax for the provision of services and the sale of goods at a distance and related arrangements “.    

In this context, every social and economic partner, as well as every interested citizen, is invited to participate in the public consultation, submitting his proposals for any improvement of the provisions of the above legislation. The consultation will run until 1 ^to July, Thursday at 8:00 a.m.

The proposed provisions incorporate into our national law the provisions of Council Directive (EU) 2017/2455 and Council Directive (EU) 2019/1995, the application of which is mandatory for the Member States of the European Union from 01.07.2021 , regulating the following basic issues through the amendment of the provisions of the VAT Code (Law 2859/2000):

First, to address the challenges posed by the explosive growth of e-commerce, two new taxable acts are introduced: ‘intra-Community distance selling of goods’ and ‘distance selling of goods imported from third countries or third countries’.

Second, there are specific provisions under which, in certain cases, an undertaking facilitating the delivery of goods through the use of an electronic interface, such as a marketplace, platform, web portal or similar means, is considered, for VAT purposes, to have received and subsequently delivered the goods themselves (“considered supplier”) to the customer.

This measure concerns undertakings established in only one Member State and is intended to reduce the administrative burden on such undertakings. However, the above companies reserve the right to choose the place of delivery of the goods and the provision of their services according to the place of arrival of the goods to the customer and the place of establishment or permanent residence or habitual residence of the non-taxable recipient (beginning of place of destination ).

Fourth, new accounting requirements are introduced for businesses that facilitate the delivery of goods or services through the use of an electronic interface, including where the electronic interface is not considered to have been received by another taxable person; and has delivered the goods itself to the customer (“considered supplier”)

Fifth, following the success of the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS), the two (2) special schemes for telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services will be extended as follows:

(a) the non-EU scheme will cover all B2C services from companies not established in the EU. and

(b) the Union scheme will cover all B2C services taxed in MS in which the Union provider is not established, intra-Community distance selling of goods as well as certain domestic deliveries of goods via electronic interfaces creating a larger One-Stop Shop (One Stop Shop – OSS).

Sixth, the VAT exemption on the import of packages of low value up to 22 euros is abolished and a new special regime is introduced for the distance selling of goods imported from third countries or third countries with an intrinsic value not exceeding 150 euros, the One-Stop-Shop for imports (import regime, Import OneStopShop – IOSS).

As these regulations concern VAT subjects (companies), established or not in the Union, who make distance sales of goods and services as well as distance sales of goods which are imported from outside the EU. as well as the private consumers-recipients of the parcels, I invite you to participate in the public online consultation, expressing your views and comments for the improvement of the provisions hereof.

The Minister of Finance

Christos Staikouras