EU policy forum: Fighting VAT Fraud and Enhancing VAT Collection in a Digitalized Environment

Abstract

The digital transformation of the economy is successfully exploited by fraudsters who develop ways to avoid paying value-added tax (VAT) and steal VAT revenues for their own gain.  Means are available to not just counter such fraudsters, but at the same time facilitate VAT collection. This article investigates different kinds of VAT frauds and the collection challenges they pose, following which it evaluates a number of technology solutions for their capacity to improve the EU VAT system.