Analyse des nouvelles règles TVA en matière de ventes aux particuliers et assimilés: Quels impacts pour une entreprise de ventes à distance?

Abstract

Since the rise of distance selling companies from 2015, which was accentuated with the coronavirus crisis, the VAT system was not at all adapted to the ways of doing business nowadays. In July 2021, New VAT rules have been implemented by the European commission. These rules apply to all member state of Europe and have been implemented in order to achieve diverse goals such as the reduction of fraud, the end of unfair competition and the simplification of administrative formalities. VAT fraud was a recurrent problem that caused heavy financial losses to all countries. According to a recent report published by the European Commission, EU member states experienced an estimated loss of 134 billion euros in value added tax revenue in 2019. Also, some of the rules needed to be redefined because it was leading to a legal loophole preventing companies from expanding internationally, which was obviously not the goal. Indeed, it gave a considerable advantage to companies located outside of the European Union and this led to unfair competition. Moreover, the administrative procedures were tedious and complex. In a world in perpetual evolution and with the digitalization of the exchanges, these modifications were crucial and necessary. Through this work I tried to understand the impact of these changes on the different actors of distance selling, in particular the companies of remote sales and I also wanted to check if all the initial objectives had been met. Through interviews, studies, and surveys, it has been possible to check the implications of the VAT package. The European Commission's survey on the evaluation of the new VAT rules after 6 months of application has revealed that all objectives have been successfully achieved. The analysis of the interviews revealed that the communication around these rules was not managed in an optimal way. The first few months after its implementation were complicated. It also emerged from the interview of the two dropshipping companies that it was difficult to find reliable sources of information. However, they both showed a particular interest in these rules. Finally, it is clear that there are still some grey areas. However, it has already improved and further changes may be made in the near future thanks to the VAT in the digital Edge initiative.