The annual EU VAT Gap Report published last week shows that Member States lost an estimated €134 billion in Value-Added Tax (VAT) in 2019. The VAT Gap measures overall difference between the expected VAT revenue and the amount actually collected in EU Member States.
The €134 billion VAT Gap is lost to fraud and evasion, VAT avoidance and optimisation practices, bankruptcies and financial insolvencies, as well as miscalculations and administrative errors.
The overall EU VAT Gap decreased by almost €6.6 billion 2019, an improvement on the previous year’s decrease of €4.6 billion.
Ireland’s VAT Gap results are outlined on page 36 of the report. The VAT Gap in Ireland went up by approximately 0.3 percent year on year to €1,721 million in 2019.
For more information you can read the report here.