Growing impact of third-parties in VAT taxation – insights from digital platforms
Robert Zieliński
Kozminsky University , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0100-1457
Emilia Teresa Sroka
Kozminsky University , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4171-2023
Abstract
This article examines the increasing involvement of third parties, particularly digital platforms, in VAT taxation. It discusses the shift from traditional state-centric tax collection to a model where private entities play a crucial role in ensuring tax compliance. It highlights the EU VAT’s “deemed supplier” regimes, which impose increased liability on digital platforms facilitating transactions, and explores the potential advantages and disadvantages of this approach.
Keywords:
VAT taxation, digital platforms, tax compliance, deemed supplier regimeReferences
Amand Ch., Disclosed/Undisclosed Agent in EU VAT: When Is an Intermediary Acting in Its Own Name?, International VAT Monitor 2021, vol. 32, no. 5. (Crossref)
Baker P., Pistone P., Perrou K., Third-Party Liability for the Payment of Taxes and Their Fundamental Rights, World Tax Journal 2023, vol. 15, no. 1. (Crossref)
Bal A., Platform Economy: Will The Real Tax Collector Please Stand Up?, Forbes, 15.03.2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/aleksandrabal/2023/03/15/platform-economy-will-thereal-tax-collector-please-stand-up/ [access: 4.04.2023].
Barr R. et al., E-Commerce and EU VAT: Theory and Practice, Alphen aan den Rijn 2021.
Beretta G., European VAT and the Sharing Economy, Alphen aan den Rijn 2019. (Crossref)
de la Feria R., Tax Fraud and Selective Law Enforcement, Journal of Law and Society 2020, vol. 47, no. 2. (Crossref)
Fernando L., Acuna R., Privatization of Tax Administration, in: Improving Tax Administration in Developing Countries, eds. R.M. Bird, M. Casanegra de Jantscher, Washington, D.C. 1992.
Hock B., Policing Fiscal Corruption: Tax Crime and Legally Corrupt Institutions in the United Kingdom, Journal Law and Contemporary Problems 2022, vol. 85, no. 4.
Kuijper B., Cameron T., Szatmári Z., Technology-Enabled Tax Compliance, Bulletin for International Taxation 2020, vol. 74, no. 10. (Crossref)
Merkx M., Platform Liability: An Efficient and Fair Collection Model for VAT?, in: VAT Challenges and Opportunities in the New Digital Economy, eds. Ch. Amand et al., Madrid 2022.
Mirrlees J.A., The Economic Approach to Tax Design, in: Tax by Designed, eds. S. Adam et al., New York 2011.
OECD, The Impact of the Growth of the Sharing and Gig Economy on VAT/GST Policy and Administration, 19.04.2021.
OECD, Mechanisms for the Effective Collection of VAT/GST, Paris 2017.
OECD, The Role of Digital Platforms in the Collection of VAT/GST on Online Sales, 20.06.2019.
Scarcella L., E-Commerce and Effective VAT/GST Enforcement: Can Online Platforms Play a Valuable Role?, Computer Law & Security Review 2020, vol. 36, 105371. (Crossref)
Sroka E.T., Comparing Deemed Supplier Regimes: E-Commerce and Short-Term Rental/Passenger Transport Platforms in the EU VAT System, Lisboa 2024 (The Lisbon International & European Tax Law Seminars, no. 9).
Viswanathan M., Tax Compliance and the Sharing Economy, in: The Cambridge Handbook of the Law of the Sharing Economy, eds. N.M. Davidson, M. Finck, J.J. Infranca, Cambridge 2018.
Zale K., Scale and the Sharing Economy, in: The Cambridge Handbook of the Law of the Sharing Economy, eds. N.M. Davidson, M. Finck, J.J. Infranca, Cambridge 2018.
Kozminsky University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0100-1457
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The Author declares that the Work is original and does not infringe any personal or proprietary rights of third parties, and that She/He has unlimited rights to the Work which are the subject of the Agreement signed with the Publisher.
Author of the publication transfers to the Publisher the economic copyrights to the Work (article) submitted for publication, free of charge, without time and territorial restrictions in the following fields of use:
a) production, recording and reproduction of the copies of the Work by a specific technique, including printing, magnetic recording and digital technology;
b) marketing, lending or rental of the original or copies of the Work, and distribution in the form of open access, in accordance with the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (also known as CC BY), available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.pl;
c) inclusing the Work in the composition of the collective work;
d) publishing on the website of the journal, public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, broadcasting and rebroadcasting, and making the Work available to the public in such a way that everyone can have access to them in a place and at a time chosen by them;
e) uploading the Work in an electronic form to electronic platforms or other uploading of the Work in an electronic form to the Internet or other network.
The proprietary copyright to the Work is transferred to the Publisher free of charge upon signing the contract wit the Publisher.
