Viva la ViDA? Will the EU’s grand plan for VAT be as revolutionary as promised?

In December last year, the European Commission unveiled one of the biggest VAT reform proposals of the 21^st Century. Called ‘VAT in the Digital Age’ (ViDA), the three-part proposal intends to not only take a hardened stance on VAT fraud, but also improve VAT efficiency through real-time reporting and e-invoicing. Add to this a significant extension of platform VAT liabilities and a reduced admin burden through single VAT registration, and ViDA could result in major modernisation. The current VAT system is already several decades old, and despite some recent upgrades, it has not kept pace with technological developments, the digital economy or the evolution of business models.