The Benefits of the July 2021 VAT Changes for the Finnish Government and Companies
Mirkovszki, Máté (2024)
2024
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024112029029
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024112029029
Tiivistelmä
In July 2021, the European Union made changes to the VAT Directive concerning B2C e-commerce. The changes were made because of rapidly growing digitalization and e-commerce. The VAT changes of July 2021 resulted in the implementation of the One Stop Shop and Import One Stop Shop systems to simplify VAT reporting, make e-commerce fairer and decrease VAT nonpayment.
This research-based thesis analyzes whether the expected benefits of the VAT changes of July 2021 were reached by the Finnish government and Finnish B2C companies. The theoretical basis of this thesis is the EU VAT legislative, the VAT changes made in July 2021 in comparison to the old VAT system, the expected benefits outlined by the European Commission and the B2C market in the EU and in Finland.
The research methods used in this thesis were a qualitative interview for the Finnish government representative and a quantitative survey for Finnish companies. The results of the interview indicate that some of the expected benefits of the VAT changes of July 2021 have been reached. Mainly the Finnish Tax Authority sees that the co-operation between other EU tax authorities has increased and that VAT data utilization has improved in the form of VAT visibility. However, some benefits cannot be evaluated at this point because accurate statistics have not been published yet.
Due to lack of responses to the survey sent to Finnish companies it was not possible to determine how Finnish companies find the benefits or impacts of the VAT changes. However, certain assumptions could be made. Only one VAT registration country can be seen as a benefit since the process is simpler than before. Digital VAT processes can also be considered useful for the Finnish companies.
This research-based thesis analyzes whether the expected benefits of the VAT changes of July 2021 were reached by the Finnish government and Finnish B2C companies. The theoretical basis of this thesis is the EU VAT legislative, the VAT changes made in July 2021 in comparison to the old VAT system, the expected benefits outlined by the European Commission and the B2C market in the EU and in Finland.
The research methods used in this thesis were a qualitative interview for the Finnish government representative and a quantitative survey for Finnish companies. The results of the interview indicate that some of the expected benefits of the VAT changes of July 2021 have been reached. Mainly the Finnish Tax Authority sees that the co-operation between other EU tax authorities has increased and that VAT data utilization has improved in the form of VAT visibility. However, some benefits cannot be evaluated at this point because accurate statistics have not been published yet.
Due to lack of responses to the survey sent to Finnish companies it was not possible to determine how Finnish companies find the benefits or impacts of the VAT changes. However, certain assumptions could be made. Only one VAT registration country can be seen as a benefit since the process is simpler than before. Digital VAT processes can also be considered useful for the Finnish companies.