The derogating measure is in line with the philosophy of Directive (EU) 2020/285 amending Articles 281 to 294 of the VAT Directive on a special scheme for small enterprises, which resulted from the VAT action plan 4 , and aims to create a modern, simplified scheme for those businesses. In particular, it seeks to reduce VAT compliance costs and distortions of competition both domestically and at EU level, reduce the negative impact of the threshold effect, and facilitate business compliance as well as monitoring by tax administrations.
Moreover, the threshold of EUR 45 000 is consistent with Directive (EU) 2020/285, insofar as it allows Member States to set the annual turnover threshold required for an exemption from VAT at a level no higher than EUR 85 000 (or the equivalent in national currency).
Similar derogations, exempting from VAT taxable persons whose annual turnover is below a certain threshold, as provided for in Articles 285 and 287 of the VAT Directive, have been granted to other Member States. Malta 5 has been granted a threshold of EUR 20 000; the Netherlands 6 a threshold of EUR 25 000; Italy 7 a threshold of EUR 30 000; Luxembourg 8 a threshold of EUR 35 000; Latvia 9 Poland 10 and Estonia 11 have been granted a threshold of EUR 40 000; Lithuania 12 a threshold of EUR 45 000; Hungary 13 a threshold of EUR 48 000; Slovenia 14 a threshold of EUR 50 000; and Romania 15 a threshold of EUR 88 500.
As already mentioned, derogations from the VAT Directive should always be limited in time so that their effects can be assessed. The inclusion of an expiry date of the special measure until 31 December 2024, as requested by Croatia, is aligned with the requirements of the new directive on simpler VAT rules for small and medium-sized enterprises. That directive provides for 1 January 2025 as the date on which Member States will have to apply the national provisions, which they are required to adopt to comply with it.
The proposed measure is therefore consistent with the provisions of the VAT Directive.
Source: eur-lex.europa.eu
