The European Commission is working hard to deliver a Cyber Monday-style deal of its own for value added tax (“VAT”) taxpayers trading online; the project is called “Modernising VAT for cross-border e-commerce.”

TMF Group expert, Johannes Laxafoss explains the European Commission’s Modernising VAT for cross-border e-commerce project and the main changes expected to make e-commerce traders’ lives easier in respect of VAT.

EU lawmakers realized the burden of the current regimes may be a serious obstacle for entrepreneurs (especially SMEs) looking to expand, and understand that it may prevent them from gaining access to the single market. In fact, 54 percent of potential online cross-border sellers say dealing with foreign taxation is a key problem for them. The European Commission therefore started work to modernize the VAT regime for e-commerce cross-border traders.