The Annual Tax Act 2024 was approved by the Federal Council on 22 November 2024. This will result in extensive VAT changes. In this newsletter, we provide you with an overview of the upcoming changes. Over the next few days, successive newsletters will take a more detailed look at individual changes.

In part 4 of our newsletter series on the ‘VAT in the Digital Age’ reform, we deal with the so-called single VAT registration. The concept of a single VAT registration is based on a number of measures that are intended to eliminate the previous need for VAT registrations abroad. To achieve this, the One-Stop-Shop procedure and the rules on the reverse charge mechanism for B2B supplies by non-resident taxable persons in other EU Member States will be gradually extended as of 1 January 2027 and 1 July 2028. However, as is so often the case, the devil is in the detail. Member States are free to exercise options, and certain transactions will continue to require a registration abroad.

Following the ECOFIN Council's approval of the ViDA package, we would like to inform you in this newsletter about the e-invoicing obligations and digital transactional reporting obligations that companies will face. In a first step, the course will be set for national e-invoicing obligations. Later, e-invoicing and reporting obligations will be introduced at EU level. Key changes will then be a standardised definition for e-invoices and timely reporting obligations for both cross-border and national transactions.