Trésorier/Treasurer magazine - N°98 - July/Aug/Sep 2017 - 7

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Yannick Zeippen,
Indirect Tax Leader
EY Luxembourg
Jacques Verschaffel, Executive
Director
EY Luxembourg

- JULY

As discussed during this Conference, it is important to be aware
of the clear trends towards more
digitalization of tax Administrations
around the world, with the first
steps being the electronic filing of
tax returns and accounting data and
the ultimate goal being to abolish
the submission of tax returns and
replace them with the submission
of such electronic data file (i.e.
FAIA or SAF-T), hence making Tax
Administrations faster and more
efficient. Well prepared, taxpayers
can also benefit from increased
efficiencies arising from e-filing and
Tax Administrations' increased audit
capacities.

N°98

According to article 70, §3, 2 of the
Luxembourg VAT law, the Luxembourg VAT Administration may, in the
context of an audit, require taxable
persons, whose accounts exist in
electronic form, any data necessary for its control to be provided
electronically or in another form as
determined by the Administration.
In accordance with this provision,
the VAT Administration may require
taxable persons to be able to
provide all the accounting data in a
structured way and in an "xml" format as a file called "Fichier d'Audit
Informatisé de l'Administration de
l'Enregistrement" or "FAIA". This
structured file was established on
the basis of the OECD recommendations on the "Standard Audit File for
Tax" or "SAF-T". This legal obligation
is not new but dates from 2008.
However, as part of the 2017 tax
reform, the daily penalty which may
be levied in particular in case of delay in the submission of this file has
been increased from a maximum
of EUR 1,000 to a maximum of EUR
25,000. The Administration clearly
wishes to stress on the importance
for taxable persons to be able to
provide this file.
The Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Luxembourg VAT
Administration, the House of Entre-

preneurship - One-Stop Shop and
EY Luxembourg, organized a Conference to remind businesses about
their VAT obligations and to clarify
the objectives and expectations of
the VAT Administration concerning
the "FAIA" on 5 May 2017.

-

On Thursday 4 May 2017, the Court
of Justice of the European Union
(CJEU) released its decision in Case
C- 274/15 Luxembourg vs Commission, concerning the Luxembourg
implementation of the Independent
Group of Persons (IGP) EU provision.
The CJEU ruled that a number of
features of the Luxembourg IGP
model is in contradiction with the
broadly defined EU VAT rules on the
subject matter. As a consequence,
the Luxembourg IGP model will need
to be reshaped and adjusted to align
with the Court's decision. Implications of this judgment will go far
beyond Luxembourg financial sector
and may result in a wide spread necessity of remodeling existing structures as well as a quest for solutions
allowing reasonable management of
VAT aspect at a "group level".

VAT - FAIA - in the light
of the tax reform

LE MAGAZINE DU TRESORIER / TREASURER MAGAZINE

CJEU judgment on EU VAT cost
sharing exemption (Luxembourg
vs EU Commission)

/ AUG / SEP 2017

INDIRECT TAX

7
Trésorier/Treasurer magazine - N°98 - July/Aug/Sep 2017

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