VAT Newsletter third quarter 2024
Newsletter – 04.11.2024
Please find below the VAT newsletter for the third quarter 2024 highlighting the latest developments in the field of VAT in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia.
Austria
AMENDMENTS TO THE VAT ACT/FISCAL CODE
- Since 1 August 2024
- Introduction of new tax exemption with right to deduct input VAT for food donations and non-alcoholic beverages to beneficiary charitable organisations (Sec 6 para 1 no 5a Austrian VAT Act).
- As of 1 January 2025
- The place of supply rules for electronically supplied B2C services, according to which the place of supply is where the recipient is resident, will include virtually available services (streaming services) as well (BGBl. I Nr. 113/2024 19. July 2024).
CASE LAW
- Denial of tax exemption for iC supplies (Art 6 para 1 in conjunction with Art 7 Austrian VAT Act)
- The tax exemption of iC supplies is to be denied if the supply is in connection with VAT evasion and the supplier knew or should have known about this.
- According to the case law of the ECJ, the supplier is generally obliged to take the measures that can reasonably be required to ensure that he does not participate in tax evasion.
- Since the supplier contributed to the concealment of the actual recipients by indicating a false recipient on the invoice on purpose, he was involved in VAT fraud and the tax exemptions for the iC supplies were therefore to be denied (Supreme Administrative Court, 24. April 2024 Ra 2022/15/0042).
Bulgaria
AMENDMENTS TO THE VAT ACT/FISCAL CODE
- As of 1 January 2025
- Introduction of a reduced VAT rate of 9 % for medicines, medical products and dietary foods for medical purposes, that are covered by the National Health Insurance Fund (Draft law 50-454-01-8, Link).
Czech Republic
CASE LAW
- Proving of Input VAT deduction
- According to the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) it is not required to provide proof of all facts when claiming the right to deduct VAT on subcontracts concluded long time in past, as the time factor and the nature of the cooperation with the supplier are also decisive (Link).
German
AMENDMENTS TO THE VAT ACT/FISCAL CODE
- As of January 2025
- E-invoicing will be mandatory for B2B transactions. However, certain businesses (previous year’s turnover max EUR 800.000,00) are allowed to issue invoices on paper or in unstructured electronic format with recipient’s consent until 1 January 2027/2028 (Growth Opportunities Act of 27 March 2024, BGBl.I 2024 no. 108).
TAX AUTHORITIES´PRACTICE
- Since 1 July 2024 VAT treatment of B2C online services
- Pre-produced content: electronic services (Art. 58 VAT Directive), not VAT-exempt, no reduced VAT rate;
- Live streaming (not recorded): services relating to cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational, entertainment or similar activities (Art. 53 VAT Directive), VAT exemptions and reduced VAT rate possible (BMF, 29 April 2024, III C 3 – 7117/.j/21/10002 :004).
- Allocation of goods/services to the business for input VAT deduction purposes
- The decision whether goods are purchased for the purposes of the taxable transaction does not have to be expressly declared towards the tax authorities but can also be expressed implicitly through the deduction of input VAT (BMF, 17 May 2024, III C 2 – S 7300/19/10002 :001).
Hungary
AMENDMENTS TO THE VAT ACT/FISCAL CODE
- Since 1 August 2024
- Increase of default penalties for missed VAT returns (for individuals from HUF 200,000.00 to HUF 400,000.00 and for companies from HUF 500,000.00 to HUF 1,000,000.00) or missed invoicing (from HUF 1,000,000.00 to HUF 2,000,000.00) (Government decree 181/2024. (VII. 8.) / Act on Procedural law 2017 of 150).
TAX AUTHORITIES’ PRACTICE
- Since 1 July 2024
- Taxable persons have the ability to correct VAT returns that were previously submitted and self-revise through the eVAT system (Link).
Poland
AMENDMENTS TO THE VAT ACT/FISCAL CODE
- No VAT exemption for educational services provided by external lecturers
- The tax exemption is not applicable for external teachers cooperating with universities, providing education services on commission from the university on the basis of a concluded contract, since these individuals are not entities covered by the educational system nor universities, scientific units of the Polish Academy of Sciences Academy of Sciences or research institutes (General interpretation of the Minister of Finance dated May 20, 2024, ref. PT1.8101.1.2024, Link).
CASE LAW
- Illegal heat consumption as a taxable activity according to the Supreme Administrative Court
- According to the recent judgement of the Supreme Administrative Court, the supply of electricity or heating by a distribution network operator, even if it is unintentional and results from the illegal act of a third party, constitutes a supply of goods for consideration that includes the transfer of the right to dispose of the goods (Judgement of the Supreme Administrative Court of 24 May 2024, ref. I FSK 1154/19, Link).
- Assignment of rights under a developer agreement
- The assignment of rights under a developer contract constitutes a service that falls under the standard VAT rate of 23 % and not under the reduced VAT rate of 8 % dedicated to the supply of a residential property (Judgement of the Supreme Administrative Court of 24 June 2024, ref. I FSK 1661/20, Link).
Romania
AMENDMENTS TO THE VAT ACT/FISCAL CODE
- Since 1 August 2024
- Introduction of a new eVAT return system prefilled with data from all electronic reporting systems managed by the tax agency (Government Emergency Ordinance 69/2024 with amendments to the Fiscal Code).
- Since 6 September 2024
- Introduction of a tax amnesty for natural persons and taxpayers for the write-off of late payment penalties and interest against payment of all main tax liabilities due at 31 August 2024. Deadline for application 25 November 2024 (Government Emergency Ordinance 107/2024).
- As of 1 January 2025
- Extension of mandatory e-invoicing to B2C supplies (ANAF Order 3775/2024).
TAX AUTHORITIES’ PRACTICE
- Since 30 August 2024
- Introduction of general tax amnesty for outstanding debts for all taxpayers. Deadline for payment and all due tax obligations is 25 November 2024 (Government Emergency Ordinance as of September 3).
Serbia
AMENDMENTS TO THE VAT ACT/FISCAL CODE
- Changes in the VAT rulebook as of 1 September 2024:
- New rules for increase/decrease of the VAT base when the reverse-charge mechanism is applied;
- New rules for adjustments to the VAT base and input tax deductions in cases of change of purpose or reduction of advance payments;
- Shortening of the deadline for issuing or certifying invoices by customs authorities, impacting the conditions for tax exemptions with input tax deduction rights;
- New rules for issuing internal invoices for the supply of goods and services for which the recipient is liable for VAT;
- Introduction of an obligation to issue and record invoices for interest on demand deposits;
- Complete elimination of the possibility to omit advance payment invoices if the advance payment and the supply occur within the same tax period;
- Option to issue a single invoice for multiple supplies to the same recipient on the same day is introduced for consolidated invoices;
- Special rules for issuing invoices for the supply of construction objects;
- Specific regulations for issuing invoices for successive supplies;
- New guidelines for cancelling invoices and documents related to VAT base adjustments (credit/debit notes);
- Changes concerning proper VAT records;
- New requirements for reporting data in the POPDV form (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia” – issue No. 65/2024, dated 2 August 2024).
- Changes to e-invoicing as of 1 September 2024
- Rules for new record of input VAT in SEF (System of electronic invoices);
- Changes in the Individual VAT Record and the Collective VAT Record, especially concerning new rules for reporting data based on the change of VAT basis (credit/debit notes) and cancellation of invoices and other documents.
- Introduction of new tax categories and codes for certain transactions to correctly categorize and process eInvoices.
- Introduction of new restriction regarding the issuance of eInvoices for the sale of construction objects (separate eInvoices for construction objects and for movable goods).
- The deadline for electronically recording output and input VAT in the SEF is the 10th day of the calendar month following the tax period.
- New requirements have been introduced in connection with determining the status of the entity and the tax period of the VAT payer (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia” – issue No. 65/2024, dated 2 August 2024).
Slovakia
AMENDMENTS TO THE VAT ACT/FISCAL CODE
As of 1 January 2025
- The following significant changes will be made to the VAT rates
VAT rate | Goods and service |
5 % | basic food products, medicines, books, accommodation services, selected catering services, supply and reconstruction of buildings under state-supported rental housing, supply of goods and services by social enterprises; entry to the fitness center and services related with entries to the sport events |
19 % | other food products, non-alcoholic beverages served in restaurants and electricity |
23 % | all the other goods and services, including energy (exempt electricity) |
- As of 1 January 2025 (planned)
- The tax base for supplies of goods free of charge is the purchase price of the goods or similar goods at the time of supply;
- New definition of initial (first) use for immovable property;
- Extension of the input VAT adjustment to intangible assets (Link).
Slovenia
AMENDMENTS TO THE VAT ACT/FISCAL CODE
- As of 1 January 2025 (planned)
- Increase of the threshold for mandatory VAT registration from EUR 50,000.00 to EUR 60,000.00 for taxable persons established in the EU. The threshold does not apply for taxable persons established in non EU-Member States;
- Possibility of VAT exemptions for Slovenian taxable persons in other EU Member States (transposing Directive 2020/285/EU on special schemes for small enterprises) in case the threshold of EUR 100,000.00 is not exceeded;
- Introduction of a standard VAT rate for beverages with added sugar, sweeteners or flavourings;
- Applications for the transfer of VAT surpluses (credits) to the next tax period and refund of VAT credit (credits) is limited to five years from the submission of the VAT return (Link).
- As of 1 July 2025 (planned)
- Maintenance of two sperate records (a record of VAT charges and a record of VAT deducted) for every taxable person (Link).
- As of 1 January 2026 (planned)
- Introduction of VAT grouping rules (Link).
- As of 1 June 2026 (planned)
- Implementation of mandatory e-invoicing and e-reporting for some B2B transactions (Link).
For further information, please contact:
authors
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Hannes GurtnerAuditor | Tax Advisor | Partner | ShareholderDetails zur Person
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Svetoslav Dimitrov
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Pavo Djedović
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Anja Novak
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Martin Valášek
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Flick Gocke Schaumburg
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Judit Jancsa-Pék
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Tomasz Michalik
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Martin Jakubec
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Stalfort Legal Tax Audit