Services de conformité

Multiple countries are enacting legislation with a distinctly ‘green’ agenda. More recently, this year in April 2022 we oversaw the introduction of the plastic tax in the United Kingdom.

Italy is enacting similar legislation with the introduction of the plastic tax on 1^st January 2023.

In many respects analogous to its UK counterpart, it aims to incentivise the use of recycled plastic.

The below provides a summary of the main changes:

• The tax applies to manufactured products for single use (MASCI)
• All plastic is included with some exceptions (including compostable plastics, recycled plastic and plastic used for medical ends)
• As in the UK, the tax is not set as a fixed percentage but will be charged at 450 Euros per tonne of plastic
• The tax must be reported quarterly.

Spain is also enacting similar legislation. Please refer to this month’s Spain compliance updates for further information.

As seen earlier this year in April in the United Kingdom, and more recently in Italy this month, Spain is introducing a new plastic tax, effective from 1^st January 2023. This is in line with the recurring trend across Europe to introduce fiscal measures with a distinctly ‘green’ agenda.

To this effect, the Spanish Congress has passed Law 7/2022 dated 8 April 2022. As in the United Kingdom and Italy, the underlying motivation behind this fiscal initiative is to encourage the reduction of non-reusable plastic, as well as promote the recycling of plastic waste.

Key elements of the tax include:

• The tax applies to non-reusable plastic containers; products made of semi-finished plastic that will be used to create non-reusable packaging and plastic products that are used to close, trade, or display non-reusable containers
• These components will generally become taxable when delivered to the customer
• As in the United Kingdom, the tax is not set as a fixed percentage but is expected to be taxed at 0.45 Euros per kg.

Italy is also enacting similar legislation. Please refer to this month’s Italy compliance updates for further information.

We have recently communicated on the e-invoicing landscape in Spain following some traction relating to the same in the country- which impacts both the invoice content itself, as well as Business-to-Business (B2B) transactions specifically.

Spain has now announced that the creation of the legal artefact in Spain via certified software- also referred to as verifiable invoicing systems (VERI*FACTU) and used for the creation and submission of invoices- will now be delayed to 1 July 2024. The date was moved following a public consultation.

From 1^st July 2024 there will also be voluntary submission of invoices to the Agencia Tributaria- sistemas y programos informaticos o electronicos (SIF).

The proposed rules only apply to resident businesses.

The proposed e-invoicing mandate in Spain is ambitious, with several complexities. Tungsten Network is closely monitoring the e-invoicing curvature in Spain and assessing our position regarding the certified billing software once more detailed information around the same is available.

We recently communicated that the e-invoicing mandate was delayed in Slovakia. However, that has not prevented the Slovakian Tax Authorities from establishing a framework to ensure the proposed upcoming e-invoicing roll-out is smooth, efficient and automated, resulting in a more user-friendly and less cumbersome tax solution for taxpayers.

To this effect, the Slovakian authorities have initiated a public testing phase for the proposed e-invoicing solution.

Entities and individuals subject to the testing phase will work with an online application or integration through OpenAPI set up by the tax authority.

It is hoped that the public interaction with the e-invoicing model and its systems will provide valuable insights and underline any necessary required enhancements before the roll-out of the mandate. It also serves to underscore the growing tendency across Europe to involve the general public as an integral part of e-invoicing development process.

Anti-inflationary shield 2.0 was introduced to reduce the VAT on certain products and therefore reduce the burden on taxpayers considering recent inflation, which continues to spiral unabated across Europe.

The initial timeline for the reduced VAT rates in Poland within this initiative was due to expire on 30 June 2022. This has now been extended to 31 October 2022.

In addition to e-invoicing mandates, countries deploy a range of complementary measures which serve to reduce tax evasion and by extension reduce the VAT gap. VAT gaps are defined as the projected amount of revenue a government is expected to receive against the actual amount of VAT-related revenue collected by the government. This has been, and continues to be, a perennial problem across Europe which the introduction of e-invoicing mandates seeks to address.

The reverse charge is one such complementary mechanism designed to circumvent the difficulties posed by VAT gaps. The reverse charge shifts the onus of paying the VAT to the customer rather than the supplier. This in turn means that suppliers cannot charge VAT on an invoice and knowingly avoid paying VAT after having received payment from a customer.

Romania has extended the reverse charge mechanism on the following products:

• A variety of foodstuffs
• The exchange of certificates for greenhouse gas emissions
• The issuance of green certificates
• The delivery of integrated circuit devices

Romania has one of the highest VAT gaps in Europe, with an astonishing 34.9% of VAT unaccounted for in 2019. It is no surprise that governments continue to advance supplementary measures in addition to e-invoicing mandates to thwart substantial VAT gaps.

The fiscal trajectory in 2022 has been a busy one for Romania as it grapples with a partial e-invoicing mandate and multiple tax rates changes.

The Ministry of Finance has opened a consultation which proposes an increase in tax rates from 1^st January 2023, in line with the following:

• Fizzy drinks reclassified from 9% reduced VAT rate to standard 19% rate
• Hotel and similar short-term accommodation raised from 5% to 9% reduced rate
• Catering services, cafés and restaurants reclassified from 5% reduced rate to 9% for food and non-alcoholic drinks
• 5% reduced rate on a range of small dwellings.

Romania is a compliant territory in Tungsten Network and we will continue to monitor and support any new tax rates in the country. The Tungsten Network Web Form portal currently supports all valid VAT rates in Romania.

Further to Law Decree 42-A/2022, dated 30 June 2022, the proposed extension of the B2G mandate to small / medium enterprises (SMEs) has once again been delayed and is now expected to be implemented on 1^st January 2023.

This is synonymous with the further extension of PDFs being accepted as an e-invoice until 1^st January 2023, underlining the Portuguese Tax Authorities’ intention to consolidate and expand the scope of their fiscal measures.

A recent notification (No. 2054) issued by the General Department of Customs (GDC) set forth the requirements for invoices for exported goods.

According to the notification, invoice to be used for export customs declarations is a commercial invoice or equivalent document, and that it is not required to issue additional electronic VAT invoices to perform export customs procedures.

The fully digitalized e-fapiao system has progressed swiftly since its launch, below is a timeline of key events:

• Dec 2021: China kicked off the Fully digitized e-invoice pilot with selected taxpayers in Guangdong, Inner Mongolia, and Shanghai. taxpayers should use the dedicated e-invoicing portal to issue and transmit fully digitized e-invoice.
• April 2022: the pilot expanded further in Guangdong and Inner Mongolia.
• May 2022: Taxpayers in Sichuan joined the pilot as “Receiver”, receiving fully digitized e-invoice from taxpayers in Guangdong, Inner Mongolia and Shanghai.
• June 2022: State Tax Administration (STA) announced an expansion of the “Receiver” scope across the country in phases.
• June 2022: the STA announced that 5 more provinces (Shenzhen, Beijing, etc) to join the pilot as “Receiver” starting on 21 June
• July 2022: the STA further confirmed 9 more provinces to participate the pilot as “Receiver” from 18 July

Although the STA intends to achieve fully invoice digitization by 2025, the top-tier provinces are expected to reach the goal earlier. We are closely monitoring the developments in China and will continue to inform our customers of any updates.