Technology Can Solve MTIC Fraud – VLN, RTvat, D-VAT certification

Technology can solve missing-trader intra-Community (MTIC) fraud. In the early 2000s, MTIC fraud mainly concerned cell phones and computer chips. By 2006, MTIC fraud was targeting services (transfers of CO2 permits and VoIP services) and was no longer limited to the European Union. MTIC fraud is now fully digitized (the supply, the movement of the product and the funding). Technology is both the causative agent and the most effective countermeasure for this type of fraud. The details of the three major technology-intensive approaches for solving MTIC fraud are known since 2007: the VAT locator number (VLN); real-time VAT collection (RTvat); and certified tax software (Digital VAT or D-VAT). This article endeavours to contribute to the debate that the European Commission has opened on this topic with its recent Green Paper, by comparing and contrasting these proposals.