Talk:Value added tax

Contents

1 External Links 2 Hyphen 3 VAT and international purchases 4 6th VAT directive 5 Invention of VAT

External Links

Is it correct that there is a link to a commercial website (INSATAX) in the External Links at the bottom of the page?

Hyphen

Surely it should be value added tax, no hyphen, not value-added tax? See, for example: (1) (http://www.hmce.gov.uk/business/vat/vat.htm), (2) (http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=31977L0388&model=guichett), (3) (http://www.rd.go.th/publish/6043.0.html) -- ALoan 00:48, 22 May 2004 (UTC)

According to the traditional rules pertaining to hyphens there should be a hyphen. But the traditional rules, still used in newspapers and magazines, and in many novels, are no longer used by advertising copy writiers nor by those who write labels on packages, nor by lots of educated English-speaking people. But I think its a good idea to follow the newspaper-and-magazine usage, for reasons that are explained in the article titled hyphen. Michael Hardy 21:39, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Yes, I agree that the traditional rules would indicate that a hyphen should be used; unfortunately, until the Sixth Directive, the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and sundry other legislation is amended, the name of the tax in the EU in general and the UK in particular (however technically incorrect) is actually "value added tax" and not "value-added tax". -- ALoan (Talk) 01:52, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

VAT and international purchases

I live in the United States. If I buy something from a EU country via the net, catalog or other means do I have to pay the VAT?

In general, that would be considered an export sale and zero rated. In other words no VAT. You may, however, be subject to use tax in your state.

6th VAT directive

What's this with the 6th VAT directive, or the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes - Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment? Where are the other five? Is this the sixth version? No, it isn't because it is still inforce today, and I can't imagine the 1977 VAT law would be todays', so where does it do refer to? -- Daniël (http://www.wikimaas.tk) on 11:52, 29 Mar 2005 +0100

VAT law in the EU is indeed based on the almost 30-year-old Sixth Directive, although it has been amended and augmented many times since then. 30 years is nothing: in the UK, stamp duty is still largely based on the Stamp Act 1891.

The Council Directives relating to VAT were numbered sequentally from the First and Second VAT Directives in 1967 through to (at least) the Eighteenth VAT Directive in 1989. More recent directives are not numbered in the same way.

The Sixth VAT Directive is the "Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977..." - the five before that are:

1. First Council Directive of 11 April 1967 on the harmonisation of legislation of Member States concerning turnover taxes (67/227/EEC)
2. Second Council Directive of 11 April 1967 on the harmonisation of legislation of Member States concerning turnover taxes - Structure and procedures for application of the common system of value added tax (67/228/EEC)
3. Third Council Directive of 9 December 1969 on the harmonisation of legislation of Member States concerning turnover taxes - Introduction of value added tax in Member States (69/463/EEC)
4. Fourth Council Directive of 20 December 1971 on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes - Introduction of value added tax in Italy (71/401/EEC)
5. Fifth Council Directive on the harmonisation of legislation of Member States concerning turnover taxes (72/250/EEC) (Not available in English: the French title is "Cinquième directive du Conseil, du 4 juillet 1972, en matière d'harmonisation des législations des États membres relatives aux taxes sur le chiffre d'affaires - Introduction de la taxe à la valeur ajoutée en Italie" (72/250/CEE) )

Most of the early Directives are now irrelevant, although parts of the First Directive remain in force. There are proposals to rewrite the Sixth Directive, incorporating the subsequent amendments - see this PDF (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2004/com2004_0246en01.pdf) (warning: 453 pages, 2.4MB) which may bear fruit in the next year or two. -- ALoan (Talk) 12:09, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

So if I understand this correctly, there are 18 European directives regarding VAT, but the Sixth is the paramount? Thanks for your quick and extensive reply! -- Daniël (http://www.wikimaas.tk) on 13:29, 30 Mar 2005 +0100

There were 18 VAT directives until 1989, but there have been a few more since then. You should be able to find more details from http://www.europa.eu.int But yes, the Sixth VAT Directive is currently the most important. -- ALoan (Talk) 11:37, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Invention of VAT

I don't think it was invented as late as the 50s by the French. It's true that they were particularly influential in getting it embedded in what was then the EEC, but I am pretty confident that the idea was around in Germany in the interwar years. If anyone has a copy of the Neumark Report handy, it may include a history section.