Digitisation of VAT Reporting

European countries are increasingly demanding detailed electronic VAT transactional reporting from businesses to help them efficiently track tax due and reduce significant tax evasion. This includes: EU SAF-T; Making Tax Digital in the UK; live invoice reporting in Spain, Hungary and Italy; and Control Statements.

Many countries have now introduced voluntary and mandatory transaction reporting submissions, on numerous standards. The timing varies from inclusion with monthly/quarterly VAT returns through to real-time reporting to the tax authorities at the time of the invoice creation. One of the more popular formats is Standard Audit File for Tax (‘SAF-T’) developed globally by the OECD. This is a schema for the exchange of information between tax authorities and businesses that can be consistently applied in all countries. However, countries have introduced many variations to make straight comparison difficult.

Below is a summary of the principle invoice reporting requirements by European country.