Brussels to crack down on VAT fraud by firms shipping goods to EU

Yet another challenge thrown up by the relentless growth of e-commerce volumes is the non-EU shippers sending small packages to Europe’s online shoppers, deliberately under-declaring their value to avoid VAT charges. The European Commission estimates it is losing around €5bn a year in lost tax revenue from 150m packages a year where value is misdeclared – in the UK, for example, goods of less than £15 are not subject to VAT. The EC is expected to announce new measures to crack down on the scam later this week.