CJEU – Recent Developments in Value Added Tax 2019

S. 781. Introduction

Administrative cooperation in VAT is provided for in Council Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 of 7 October 2010 on administrative cooperation and combating fraud in the field of value added tax (RAC VAT), which lays down how tax authorities of different countries within the European Union cooperate and the circumstances under which information is exchanged both cross-border between different tax authorities and with other law enforcement agencies. As in the area of direct taxation, in the area of VAT we can also observe an increase in the collection of data from third parties and a strengthening of exchange of information between tax authorities of different EU Member States.

These developments are taken as the starting point for a discussion on whether EU law recognizes specific taxpayer rights when information required for tax purposes is collected, exchanged and used. The discussion on taxpayer rights starts with the question whether there are specific rights stemming from the RAC VAT. Could taxpayers request administrative cooperation between tax authorities where they cannot provide required information themselves? Moreover, the relevance of the Charter of Fundamental...