With the monthly bundle of decisions on violations by Member States, the European Commission is taking legal action against Member States that do not fulfill their obligations under EU law.

The Commission today decided to send letters of formal notice to Bulgaria requesting to bring its value added tax (VAT) provisions in line with EU law, the Sofia office of the EC announced. One of the cases is related to the fact that small fuel companies are currently required to pay excessively high amounts in advance to ensure that they can pay the VAT they owe.

For large companies, it is only sufficient to offer a guarantee equal to the VAT due on their transactions. The Commission considers that national legislation is incompatible with EU rules (the VAT Directive, Council Directive 2006/112 / EC) and with the freedom of a business initiative (Article 16 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights).

Apart from this, Bulgaria is invited to change its rules for charging VAT due when business assets are used for private or non-business purposes and when business assets are transferred to another Member State. If Bulgaria does not act on these two requests in the next two months, the Commission may send a reasoned opinion to the Bulgarian authorities.