EU – EU Tax Symposium: Cross-Border VAT Data Sharing 

The EU Tax Symposium was held in Brussels from March 16 to March 17, 2026. It is co-organised by the Parliament and the Commission and represents one of the most important gatherings for sharing ideas, projects, and discussions among leading decision-makers and experts in taxation policy.

EU VAT Data Exchange 

Representatives of the Member States, decision-makers, tax leaders, and experts in various tax fields have addressed the topic of cross-border VAT data exchange, a major part of the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) reform. 

The VAT in the Digital Age reform has been approved, and its gradual implementation has been initiated. One of the key parts of the ViDA reform is the establishment of the norms, infrastructure, and regime for the cross-border exchange of VAT data at the transactional and payment levels for intra-EU B2B transactions. 

EU decision-makers are very divided on this subject, which is expected, given the importance of finding a common language, understanding, and mutually shared approaches when developing the system, which will serve VAT data exchange, data analysis, storage, and cross-country reference. 

The impact of cross-border analysis of transactional VAT data can trigger different EU and national legal frameworks, not only tax or financial matters. 

EU VAT Data Exchange: Member State’s Difference

The convergence on the EU VAT data cross-border exchange of data between Member States must be achieved in the upcoming period, as this policy decision is of major importance for establishing the technical infrastructure for intra-EU B2B e-invoicing and the digital tax reporting framework. 

The EU Member States need to find a mutually beneficial solution on how VAT data shall be administered at the central EU level and at the national level. So it is a cross-border EU VAT data integration, where the necessary parts depend on who controls the data and what data must be shared or protected. 

The Hungarian representative indicated that, from the current standpoint of its national revenue authorities, the transactional data (and the related TAX ID data of counterparties in a B2B transaction) shouldn’t be shared to that extent. Their standpoint is to reduce the extent of information shared between tax authorities for this kind of transaction.

The Netherlands representative also indicated that additional data safeguards, such as specifying who can evaluate data, should be limited, as should other safeguards that must be met. 

EU VAT compliance systems will undergo major changes, so there will be many debates over the central topics, as expected.