VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package still NOT yet approved!

At today’s ECOFIN meeting of 21st June, EU finance ministers were still unable to reach an agreement on the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) proposal, despite anticipation that we would finally see the approval under the Belgian presidency of the EU council.

This is due to Estonia’s continued objection against the mandatory use of the ‘deemed supplier’ rule for the platform economy in the taxi & accommodation sector, which they still feel runs counter to the rules of VAT neutrality for SME’s working within this sector. They still feel that changes should be made to this specific area of the package, and consequently were unable to make any compromise. Work on seeking approval of the ViDA proposal will continue under the new presidency of the EU council, which will be handed from Belgium to Hungary on the 30th June 2024.

However this, coupled with the impact of the recent EU elections, as well as the EU council recess in July, This may mean that ViDA is not approved for some time yet. Whether this will impact on the currently proposed dates for implementation remains to be seen, but it is thought that EU commission will retain those dates.