This thesis focuses upon VAT in the context of the Community’s internal market. Its central aim is to prove that the current EU VAT system is incompatible with the concept of internal market as set out in the EC Treaty and interpreted by the Court of Justice. The study commences with an analysis of the concept of internal market, the main objective of which is to establish the basic legal framework for the proposed thesis. As part of this examination, it is demonstrated that the EC Treaty creates a temporally unlimited obligation for the Community to approve legislation with the aim of establishing and improving the functioning of the internal market. View sample chapter    |    View table of contents By analysis of existing EU VAT jurisprudence, it is argued that obstacles cannot be overcome through incremental developments emerging from the Court of Justice, but can only be resolved by fundamental and substantive legislative amendment.

Main Contents

• Chapter One: The Internal Market Concept
• Chapter Two: The Role of VAT in the Internal Market Policy: Historical Overview
• Chapter Three: The Current EU VAT System: Practical Problems
• Chapter Four: The Role of the Court of Justice in the Development of the EU VAT System

Rita de la Feria is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Business Taxation, University of Oxford. She worked previously as a tax consultant with Arthur Andersen, in both their Lisbon and Dublin offices, and held lecturing positions on Tax Law and EU law at the University of Dublin, Trinity College and Queen's University Belfast. She has published widely on tax issues, particularly on EU VAT.

The mission of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation is: “[T]o maintain a knowledge centre providing information about and explanations of international taxation and promoting the study of taxation in general” (Art. 2 of the articles of association). True to this mission, and aware that access to doctoral theses is often limited, IBFD has taken the initiative to make available to a wider public a series of books based on doctoral research, meeting the highest academic standards.

Only contributions that enhance the international academic tax debate are accepted. In order to ensure high quality, every thesis published in this series has been reviewed by academic members of the Board of Trustees, senior IBFD research staff or prominent tax academics worldwide. The series aims to cover all aspects of comparative and international taxation, not only in respect of income tax, but also in respect of VAT and of inheritance, estate and gift taxes.

• Vol. 1 - The Concept of Income: A Multi-Disciplinary Analysis

      by Kevin Holmes

• Vol. 2 - Taxing Portfolio Income in Global Financial Markets

      by Doron Herman

• Vol. 3 - Free Movement of Persons and Income Tax Law

      by Servaas van Thiel

• Vol. 4 - Advance Tax Rulings and Principles of Law

      by Carlo Romano

• Vol. 5 - Arbitration under Tax Treaties

      by Mario Züger

• Vol. 6 - E-Commerce and Source-Based Income Taxation

      by Dale Pinto

• Vol. 7 - Interpretation of Tax Treaties under International Law

      by Frank Engelen

• Vol. 8 - Taxation of Investment Funds in the European Union

      by Tomi Viitala 

• Vol. 9 - Taxation of Cross-Border Partnerships

      by Jesper Barenfeld

• Vol. 10 - Taxation of International Performing Artistes

      by Dick Molenaar

• Vol. 11 - Dispute Resolution under Tax Treaties

      by Zvi Daniel Altman

• Vol. 12 - Income from International Private Employment

      by Frank Pötgens

• Vol. 13 - Taxation of Investment Derivatives

      by Antti Laukkanen

• Vol. 14 - International Tax Planning and Prevention of Abuse

      by Luc De Broe

• Vol. 15 - EC Law Aspects of Hybrid Entities

      by Gijs Fibbe

• Vol. 16 - EU VAT System and the Internal Market

      by Rita de la Feria

• Vol. 17 - Formulary Apportionment for the Internal Market

      by Stefan Mayer

• Vol. 18 - Cross-Border Consumption Taxation of Digital Supplies
  by Pernilla Rendahl
• Vol. 19 - EC Law and the Sovereignty of the Member States in Direct Taxation

      by Dr Mathieu Isenbaert