2007年3月27日 欧洲增值税欺诈激增

The "alarming" growth of value added tax fraud in Europe is costing governments up to €100bn ($130bn, ￡68bn) a year, highlighting the need for urgent reform, according to a new study.

总部位于布鲁塞尔、代表企业和税务顾问的国际增值税协会(International VAT Association)在昨日发布的一份报告中称，黑色经济骗局、蓄意破产和利用跨境交易免征增值税进行的所谓"不明交易(missing trader)"欺诈，正造成欧洲增值税收入"大出血"。

The International VAT Association, a Brussels-based group representing business and tax advisers, says in a report published today that Europe's VAT systems are "haemorrhaging" revenues as a result of scams based on the black economy, deliberate insolvencies and so-called "missing trader" fraud, which exploits the zero-rating of goods sold across borders.

报告指出，要打击这种日益猖獗的犯罪行为，欧盟委员会(European Commission)应成立一支泛欧洲执法者团队，监控跨境欺诈。

To counter this growing crime a pan-European team of enforcers should be set up by the European Commission to police cross-border fraud, according to the report.


只有这样，才能"消除国内行政机构在处理其它成员国增值税损失时普遍存在的惰性"。

This is needed to "overcome the endemic inertia of national administrations to tackling VAT losses in other member states".

报告称，还应考虑对增值税体系进行彻底改革。目前免征增值税的跨境销售可以按共同的标准税率（比如说10%）征税，而各国可自行确定对最终消费者征收的税率。

Fundamental reform of the VAT system should also be considered, it says. Cross-border sales - which are currently VAT-free - could be taxed at a common standard rate of, say, 10 per cent, with individual countries free to set their own tax rates for final consumers.

这将是一个现行增值税体系和"原始"体系的"混合体"，由商品出口国征收增值税，然后移交给商品销售国。长期以来，这种方法一直受到欧盟委员会的青睐，却遭到成员国的抵制，它们担心这会要求统一增值税税率。

This would be a "hybrid" of the existing VAT system and the "origin" system, in which the tax is collected in the country exporting the goods and then transferred to the country where the goods are sold. This approach has long been favoured by the Commission but rejected by member states, which fear it would require harmonisation of VAT rates.

国际增值税协会还呼吁改善成员国之间的信息共享，利用新技术完善交易追踪，加速信息交流。

The IVA also calls for better information-sharing among member states, using new technology to improve transaction tracking and speed up exchanges of information.

报告对某些成员国试图利用"逆向收费"(reverse charge)机制（将增值税转变为一种销售税）打击欺诈的做法提出了批评。报告指出，这种方法成倍扩大了逃税的可能来源。

The report criticises member states' attempts to combat fraud with a "reverse charge" mechanism, which turns VAT into a form of sales tax. It says this approach multiplies the potential sources of tax evasion.