Slovak EU Presidency to tackle issue of tax evasion
BRATISLAVA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) — Preventing VAT evasions should be one of the priorities of the Slovak EU Presidency starting this July, confirmed Andrej Kralik, head of the European Commission’s Representation in Slovakia.
Europe is annually losing as much as 168 billion euros (189.5 billion U.S. dollars) on tax evasions with the biggest portion of money being disappeared particularly from VAT.
“That’s why the European Commission called on member states last year to reduce tax evasions. Slovakia is one of the countries, along with Malta and Latvia, that managed to do so,” stressed Kralik.
Tax evasions are one of the biggest issues in Brussels at the moment.
“We should slap tax dodgers on the wrist by unification of tax rules in Europe. There are several possibilities how to do it. An ideal solution would be if a businessman exporting his goods abroad won’t pay VAT abroad, but at home,” said managing partner of the consulting company Grant Thornton Slovensko Wilfried Serles.
However, Slovakia’s success in asserting the united European fight against tax dodgers is standing on shaky ground, since individual EU countries have the right of veto on tax issues. Any single country can thereby sweep the whole issue off the table.
“Therefore, these negotiations are one of the toughest,” added Kralik.
