EU Countries Give Blessing to Value-Added Tax Anti-Fraud Bill

EU countries endorsed a bill that would force member states to share value-added tax data with the bloc’s anti-fraud agencies to help them clamp down fraud that costs it up to €33 billion annually.

The bill, agreed to at the Economic and Fiscal Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, would give the European Public Prosecutors Office and the European Anti-Fraud Office access to VAT information, rather than depending on bilateral exchanges of information. It’s expected to be finalized following a European Parliament vote in July.

The new framework gives the agencies “the first-hand information they need to launch ...