VATupdate Newsletter Week 19 2023

Dear Mom

I was walking past a store earlier this week, when I saw a broom standing in a shopwindow with a sign saying, “buy your Mother’s Day gift today”. Later that week I scrolled through some websites and came across an old (fake?) advertisement for condoms, where a boy was lying screaming on the floor in a supermarket, with his father sighing and (probably) thinking that he should have used them.

(Banned) commercial for condoms (sorry for the bad quality, it’s that old): HERE

With all the jokes and memes out there, you would almost forget that Mother’s Day is nothing more than a commercial feast. Similar to, for example, Valentine’s Day, all men or children go out and buy something for that special woman in their lives. A great day for the shops. And for the government, as they collect a lot of extra VAT in just a couple of days.

Of course, many moms around the world may say that they don’t want to receive any presents. “Just make me a nice drawing, or clean up your room”, is what they say. But you see their disappointed look when they ‘only’ receive a drawing, or the bouquet of self-picked flowers from the neighbour’s garden. And I leave it up to you to determine if that’s from their child or their husband/boyfriend.

Perhaps part of the blame is with the mom. She says that she doesn’t want anything special, but what she really wants is to sleep in, be taken out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, a clean house, a few gifts, and a massage. Oh, and some chocolate, that always seems to work with all women.

Back to VAT. What do we want? Let’s think for a moment about a special VAT-Day, where all VAT people are to be pleased and taken care off. Would you have any (hidden) expectations? And by whom and how would these be met?

If we look at the ViDA proposals from the EU Commission and the feedback that was published, there’s actually a lot of expectations, and even demands to streamline and adjust the proposals. And listening to the EU Commission, the EU Member States are on one hand saying that they fully understand and agree with the underlying principles of the proposals, but on the other hand, they think that their own national ideas and policies are better.

I wouldn’t compare the EU Commission with the mother of VAT, but I’m almost thinking: grow up! Let’s try and step in their shoes for a moment. They are doing their best to give us a structured approach to quite difficult stuff. But instead of appreciating that, we only nag and complain to them.

Or perhaps that’s just the process of growing-up. By arguing with the EU Commission, we understand better the principles and how to translate them to the ‘real world’. Once out of the puberty phase, we become more mature, and we see the EU Commission’s point of view and try to explain the VAT rules to the next generation.

I’m not going to spoil the EU Commission, though. But perhaps we and the Member States should try making this better, instead of trying to convince everyone that your own ideas and practices are the best. Perhaps they are, but please look at the bigger picture: a standardised and simple approach is far better that to have advisors, technology companies and other businesses making a lot of money from unclear and duplication or rules.

Having said that: my mom gets a bouquet of flowers and a self-made drawing. Because that’s what I’m supposed to give her. Every year. No learning curve there at all. But I think she doesn’t mind.

If you have any comments, questions, or ideas that you want to share with us, please send us an email at [email protected] or leave a comment under the posts of this newsletter on LinkedIn.

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