The ongoing intergovernmental conference (IGC) and the preparation of the "Financial Perspectives post-2006" i.e. the next multi-annual financial framework of the European Union, have led to new discussions on the issue of EU own taxes. As this issue is also likely to emerge regularly in future...

Value Added Tax (VAT) in Europe is regularly subject to intensive debate. It is often argued that the current VAT system should be made more uniform to enhance economic efficiency and to protect the functioning of the internal market. But it is also regularly argued that extending reduced VAT to...

Under the current VAT system defined in the Sixth VAT Directive, Member States are required to have a single VAT rate of at least 15% and may have a maximum of two reduced VAT rates set no lower than 5%. Annex H of the 6 Directive outlines the list of the goods and services to which reduced...

The 2014 This report on Tax Reforms in EU Member States presents an overview of the reforms recently introduced by Member States in the main areas of tax policy and provides up-to-date analysis of the main challenges in each area. It also includes an indicator-based assessment, which gives an...

This paper reviews the tax reforms implemented by EU Member States since the adoption of the first country-specific recommendations in the framework of the Europe 2020 strategy. Even though there is a need for more action, as evidenced by the number of tax recommendations, overall many Member...

In recent years, the concept of a fiscal devaluation has been advocated as fiscal policy alternative to nominal exchange rate devaluations for peripheral deficit countries in the euro area to regain competitiveness. This paper investigates if countries in the euro area implemented fiscal...

The study analyses and measures the issues arising from the current VAT treatment of public bodies and activities carried out in the public interest. It also identifies possible options for the future, and measures their impact.

The European Commission has asked Copenhagen Economics and KPMG AG in collaboration to study the VAT rules applied to the public sector in EU member states, and make a comparison with the VAT/GST rules applied in key OECD countries outside the EU.The study collects and analyses relevant studies...

Immovable property transactions are in most Member States based on concepts employed in the national (civil) laws. The application of the origin principle causes (additional) difficulties because of the different concepts employed in the national laws. In order to achieve a more uniform...

The study carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers aims to increase the understanding of the economic effects of the VAT exemption for financial and insurance services. The views expressed in the report are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European...