“Removal of the VAT de Minimis on E-Commerce items will cost the delivery industry €1bn more”
A new study by Copenhagen Economics has indicated that the removal of the VAT de Minimis exemption on e-commerce items will create significant additional processing costs for the delivery industry and also a disproportionate administrative burden for national customs and tax administration and e-sellers.
In a statement about the report sent to Post&Parcel, PostEurop said that the removal of the exemption would “ultimately affect EU consumers, thus hampering the growth of e-commerce in Europe”.
PostEurop continued: “This is in contradiction to the Commission’s aim to modernise VAT rules for improving cross-border e-commerce from companies to consumers. Therefore, postal operators urge that the European Commission seriously reconsiders this element of its package of VAT policies and defers the removal of the “VAT de Minimis exemption” until a better solution can be found.”
Jean-Paul Forceville, Chairman of PostEurop, commented: “We are concerned that the proposal may put at risk the role of postal operators as a key player in the e-commerce chain, in terms of providing an affordable and reliable delivery offer to ensure the smooth functioning of the e-commerce market. This will also have an impact on customs and tax authorities alike, who are now expected to handle a much larger volume of dutiable items with current insufficient resources in terms of staff and IT equipment, which may lead to unequal customs and tax treatment all around the European Union and create distortion of competition.”
PostEurop said that post operators are asking the EC and the Members States to “take into account the findings of Copenhagen Economics study, defer the removal of the VAT exemption and co-operate in order to find a balanced approach that can work for all stakeholders”.
