The Problematic Combination of EU Harmonized and Domestic Legislation regarding VAT Platform Liability

The EU harmonized VAT e-commerce rules applying as of 1 July 2021 have far-reaching consequences, particularly for the liability of platforms. In addition, some Member States recently adopted domestic liability regimes for platforms which can be differentiated into three models, and it appears that these regimes will remain in place after 1 July 2021. In this article, the combination of EU harmonized and domestic legislation with respect to VAT platform liability is explored. In the author’s view, some domestic liability regimes are not proportionate and go further than necessary to reach the intended aim and the combination of EU harmonized and domestic legislation regarding VAT platform liability is problematic.