CASE's new study: EU countries lost EUR 151.5 billion of VAT revenues in 2015
CASE authored a study on the VAT Gap in the European Union in 2015 commissioned by the European Commission. In 2015, the VAT Gap in the EU-28 Member States amounted to EUR 151.5 billion.
The VAT Gap is the difference between expected and actual VAT revenues. One of the primary interests in the VAT Gap lies in its connection to VAT fraud, an important political and economic issue across Member States and for the EC.
While average EU figures are improving, individual VAT collection performances vary significantly amongst Member States. The largest VAT Gaps were reported in Romania (37.2%), Slovakia (29.4%) and Greece (28.3 %). The smallest gaps were observed in Spain (3.5%) and Croatia (3.9 %). In absolute terms, the highest VAT Gap of €35 billion was in Italy. The VAT Gap decreased in most Member States, with the strongest improvements in Malta, Romania and Spain. Seven Member States saw small increases: Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Luxembourg, Finland and the UK.
CASE's team was led by Grzegorz Poniatowski, Director of Fiscal Policy Studies, and composed of Mikhail Bonch-Osmolovskiy and Misha Belkindas.
Photo: Pixabay, CC0
