In order to ensure more uniform application of the Sixth Directive by the Member States, the Council has recently adopted a VAT implementing Regulation. Its provisions are based on guidelines adopted in the past by the VAT Committee on the interpretation of eleven articles of the Sixth Directive. In this article, the authors focus on what may be the most controversial part of the VAT implementing Regulation, i.e. the provision relating to the taxable amount in the case of payments by means of credit or debit cards. Their analysis includes a description of the background of that provision and the situation it addresses, examination of the nature of the provision and the possibility of challenging it and, finally, alternative methods available to the Member States to achieve the same results.