CESOP, a new European database, stands for Central Electronic System of Payment information and is part of the legislative package adopted by the European Commission to combat VAT fraud.
Starting from 1 January 2024, the Payment Service Providers offering payment services in the EU will extract specific information on cross-border payments and transmit it to the competent tax authorities on a quarterly basis. The transactions in scope are those done by a payer located in a Member State, and where the payee, located in another Member State or in a third country, receives more than 25 cross-border payments per quarter.
The reports from all Member States will then be centralised, aggregated, and cross-checked with other European databases. The main objective of this new reporting is to give tax authorities the right instruments to detect possible e-commerce VAT fraud carried out by sellers established in another Member State or in a non-EU country.
Complete information on the legislation texts, EU Commission Guidelines and the reporting template can be found here: https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/taxation-1/central-electronic-system-payment-information-cesop_en
Additionally, the EU Commission is planning to publish a Q&A on this topic and the national transposition can be expected in the first half of 2023.
The ABBL supports its members on this new reporting and invites all interested tax and payments specialists to join a specifically created Task Force.
Contact persons:
Laétitia Carroz – Tax Adviser at the ABBL
Galina Miroshnichenko - Payments Adviser at the ABBL