The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) regrets that the comprehensive proposal from the Commission does not take the opportunity to align VAT treatment between goods and services. This would have decreased the administrative burden on businesses, especially on SMEs.
The EESC considers that the suggested timeline for reporting intra-Community supplies of goods and services within two days seems unreasonably short. The EESC is worried that the time limit of two days for electronic invoices and reporting would constitute a barrier to intra-community trade , especially since many SMEs are already facing problems with the much longer time limit within the current regulatory framework.
The EESC considers that summary invoices should not be eliminated since it would create problems in many sectors. The use of summary invoices should always be allowed for domestic transactions. For intra-Community transactions, the EESC notes that another possibility could be to limit the use of summary invoices, e.g. by having a limitation of seven days.
The EESC points out that the data collected and exchanged between tax authorities could include personal data as well as sensitive business data. Such data must be protected and handled with the utmost care to preserve the integrity of consumers and businesses.
Source: eur-lex.europa.eu
