Do EU VAT Rules affect Bitcoin? Not really

With the new EU VAT legislation, which came into effect on 1 January 2015, the EU companies in the telecommunication, broadcasting or e-service field have to comply with new rules, which require companies selling e-services and goods within the EU to establish a proof of residence for their customers.
EU tax evasion on the microscope
The newly launched VAT regulations focus on the prevention of tax evasion. More specifically, they aim to eliminate the advantage of large corporations to locate their offices in EU countries with low VAT rates in order to supply their products within the EU at the lowest possible taxation. Last December, the European Commission asked all EU members to provide information on existing financial settlements with large multinationals in order to investigate which corporations fall under the 2010-2013 tax ruling, which controls tax evasion. So, the new EU VAT rules are no surprise.

This post was published at NewsBTC on February 5, 2015.