STUDY ON IMPLEMENTING THE ‘DESTINATION PRINCIPLE’

The study carried out for the Commission analyses five policy options for tackling two fundamental issues in the current VAT system: the additional compliance costs borne by businesses that conduct cross-border trade when compared to those businesses that only trade domestically and the occurrence of VAT fraud.

The five policy options are designed to enable the implementation of a destination based VAT system across the EU. The study examines the options’ potential to address the two fundamental issues and the impact (if any) they will have on the European economy as a whole.