Global Trends in VAT/GST and Direct Taxes

S. 410I. Introduction

VAT exemption on financial and insurance services within the European Union is like a dinosaur that successfully survived meteors and ice ages and still happily walks, in its unchanged ancient form, on our current world’s streets. Despite astonishing developments in the world economy and the way businesses are structured and conducted, the sophistication level of financial systems and products, the definition of VAT exemption on financial and insurance services has not significantly changed since the adoption of the Sixth Directive in 1977 (the ‘Sixth Directive’). By comparing Art. 13(B)(a) and (d) of the Sixth Directive with Art. 135(1) of the current VAT Directive (the ‘Directive’), it becomes evident that other than some minor grammatical nuances and the striking out of ‘factoring’, which used to be a carved-out category and therefore a taxable transaction just like debt collection, nothing has changed over a period of close to 40 years. Presumably, that lasting status quo is more a consequence of delicate politics about touching anything around VAT exemptions in the current system than a justification of thorough work put into use almost 40 years ago. Actually, a...