On 27 June 2016, after more than 10 years of work, the EU Council finally adopted a directive which harmonises national VAT rules in the area of transactions involving vouchers. The directive is narrower in scope than the one proposed by the Commission in 2012. It defines single-purpose vouchers and multi-purpose vouchers and sets out rules to determine the taxable value of transactions in both of these cases.
The directive is directed at increasing legal certainty for such transactions and stopping double taxation and non-taxation by reducing the risk of mismatches in national tax legislation. Such tax mismatches can arise in situations where a voucher is issued in one Member State and is ultimately used in another, particularly where vouchers are traded.
Vouchers are used most frequently in situations such as: pre-paid telecom cards, gift cards and price discount coupons for the purchase of goods or services.
Member States will have until 31 December 2018 to transpose the directive into national law. The provisions adopted will apply only to vouchers issued after that date.
The Council directive can be found here.
