VAT in the digital age – critical conclusions from the conference at the Warsaw School of Economics

On 12-13 September, the Warsaw School of Economics hosted the “VAT in the Digital Age” conference, devoted to implementing e-invoicing in the European Union as part of the VIDA project. Representatives from many countries and organisations attended the event, including Patrice Pillet, Head of the VAT Team at the European Commission. The key challenges and schedule for implementing mandatory e-invoicing, which is expected to revolutionize VAT settlements in the EU, were discussed during the conference.

EU e-Invoicing plans

In his speech, Patrice Pillet presented the European Commission’s perspective and the schedule for implementing e-invoicing. The Commission estimates that the mandatory system will reduce the shadow economy and increase VAT revenues by €111 billion. In addition, savings of €41 billion are forecast, with implementation costs of €13.5 billion. The schedule provides for the implementation of e-invoicing for international transactions by 2030 and domestic transactions by 2035. However, Pillet stressed that synchronising actions between Member States remains a key challenge.

Examples from Germany, Spain, France and Italy

The conference allowed us to learn about the experiences of different countries. According to Hans Joachim Narzynski from the German Ministry of Finance, Germany introduced e-invoicing gradually. The obligation for buyers to accept e-invoices will come into force from 2025, and issuing e-invoices will become mandatory for all companies from 2028 (and for large companies from 2026). The German government leaves taxpayers free to choose the format of the e-invoice, as long as it complies with the European standard EN 16931 and the method of communication, as long as it is electronic

Spain, on the other hand, according to Marcos Alvarez Suso, a representative of the Spanish Ministry of Finance, relies on the SII system, which requires sending information about the invoice to the tax office within four days. This system covered the largest companies, reducing the VAT gap to only 0.8% in 2021. Spain is preparing to implement a more advanced Verifact system, which, like the Polish KSeF, will operate in real mode.

Odile Courjon, an attorney at PDGB, a law firm specializing in e-invoicing, presented a system based on private communication platforms (PDPs) in France. France initially planned to launch the system simultaneously with Poland, but the

certification process for service providers proved to be more complicated. It is intended to implement e-invoicing for large taxpayers in autumn 2026, with a total obligation from 2027.

Italian experience

Since 2019, Italy has been using an e-invoicing system that resembles the Polish KSeF. The Italian Sdl system supports B2B and B2C invoices and offers taxpayers extensive integration and access options through a mobile application. Implementing e-invoices in Italy has produced spectacular results, including a significant reduction in fictitious invoices and a decrease in the VAT gap.

Summary

The “VAT in the Digital Age” conference showed how different countries approach the implementation of the e-invoicing system and what benefits can be brought by the unification of systems throughout the European Union. Despite many challenges, such as the synchronisation of activities at the international level, the prospects for mandatory e-invoicing are up-and-coming in reducing the shadow economy and improving tax administration.

E-invoicing is a step towards a modern and digital tax administration, which will make taxpayers’ lives easier and increase the transparency of Europe’s VAT system.

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