The European Commission (EC) is seeking feedback on a new public consultation which looks at the VAT rules for financial and insurance services. Financial and insurance services are generally exempt from VAT under the VAT Directive. The EC outlines how these rules were introduced in 1977 and have since become outdated.

This initiative outlines that the current VAT rules lead to costs for financial and insurance operators and are difficult to apply. The purpose of the consultation is to review these VAT rules as part of the EC objective to simplify the life of taxpayers operating in the Single Market, which is one of the priorities laid down in the Political Guidelines for the current EC.

Interested parties are invited to respond to the consultation by 3 May 2021.