Ireland Upcoming Public Consultation on VAT E-Invoicing and Real-Time Reporting.

The Minister for Finance of Ireland formally announced an impending public consultation concerning the digitalisation of Ireland’s VAT Invoicing and Reporting System on 10th October 2023.

This pivotal move forms a component of the financial strategies outlined in the 2024 Irish Budget, to be administered by the Revenue Commissioners.

The impending review is set to explore avenues for the digitalisation of VAT invoice reporting, delving into modern strategies for streamlining and enhancing reporting methodologies. Notably, the spotlight will shine upon continuous transaction controls, such as  e-reporting and e-invoicing, aimed to augment the prevailing VAT return requirements by integrating transaction-level reporting.

Concurrently, Ireland shall scrutinize the consequences stemming from the EU’s innovative “VAT in the Digital Age” reform package. Within this package, a key pillar aims to forge uniformity across the 27 EU states concerning Digital Reporting Requirements. The overarching aim is a seamless transition towards obligatory e-invoicing and reporting related to intra-community transactions. This will also delve into the standardization of domestic digital reporting regimes within the EU.

Digitalisation of transaction reporting harbours the potential to refine tax reporting mechanisms, whilst also acting as a robust measure to bridge the VAT Gap – the fiscal void created by revenue losses attributed to errors and fraud. The European Commission has assessed Ireland’s VAT Gap to be €1.7 billion, constituting 10.1% of anticipated VAT revenues, as per the latest estimates.