VAT: EU and Norway strengthen administrative cooperation, combating fraud and recovery of claims

On 2 October, the EU and Norway signed an agreement to amend the existing cooperation agreement on aspects of administrative cooperation, fight against fraud and assistance on recovery of claims in the field of VAT. The new agreement will provide the partners with new cooperation tools.

The initial EU-Norway Agreement on administrative cooperation, fight against fraud and assistance on recovery of claims in the field of VAT entered into force on 1 September 2018. It was the first EU international agreement in the field of VAT cooperation. After six years of application, the agreement was now amended to introduce new tools in line with the Council Regulation 904/2010 on administrative cooperation and fight against fraud in the field of VAT and Council Directive 2010/24/EU on mutual assistance for the recovery of claims relating to taxes, duties and other measures.

Norway is a major international partner of the EU, a European country part of the EEA Agreement, and a dynamic international actor in the field of VAT policy and VAT cooperation. Signing the agreement on behalf of the European Union, the Director-General for Taxation and Customs Union, Gerassimos Thomas, said: "This is an important moment that steps up the long-standing and fruitful cooperation between the EU and Norway, by enhancing the tools at the disposal of the tax administration to combat VAT fraud and deal with recovery of claims." Norwegian ambassador to the EU, H.E. Anders Eide said: "The EU and Norway enjoy a unique and close partnership. Today marks an important step to fight VAT and tax fraud. This demonstrates the power of regional cooperation".

The Agreement lays down the legal framework for cooperation between EU Member States and Norway by providing new cooperation tools. In the area of VAT, this includes the spontaneous and automatic exchange of information and feedback, assistance on administrative notifications, participation in administrative enquiries (PAOEs), simultaneous controls (MLCs) and Eurofisc. In the area of recovery, it includes the requests for recovery, requests for enforcement and requests for precautionary measures.

This extension of cooperation tools will allow for a more effective collaboration, in particular regarding exchange of information by using other means than standard forms, administrative enquiries carried out jointly and Eurofisc follow-up actions while fully respecting the data protection principles enshrined in EU and EEA law by updating the reference to the repealed Directive 95/46/EC by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data.