The alarming growth of value added tax fraud in Europe is cosplayting governments up to 100bn a year, highlighting the need for urgent reform, according to a new study.
总部坐落于布鲁塞尔、代表企业和税务顾问的国际增值税协会在昨日发布的一份报告中称，黑色经济骗局、蓄意破产和借助外贸买卖免征增值税进行的所谓不明买卖欺诈，正导致欧洲增值税收入大出血。
The International VAT Association, a Brussels-based group representing business and tax advisers2, says in a report published today that Europe's VAT systems are haemorrhaging revenues as a result of scams based on the black economy, deliberate insolvencies and so-called missing trader fraud, which exploits the zero-rating of goods sold across borders.
报告指出，要打击这种日益猖獗的犯罪行为，欧盟委员会应成立一支泛欧洲执法者团队，监控外贸欺诈。
To counter this growing crime a pan-European team of enforcers should be set up by the European Commission to police cross-border fraud, according to the report.
只有如此，才能消除国内行政机构在处置其它成员国增值税损失时常见存在的惰性。
This is needed to overcome the endemic inertia3 of national administrations to tackling VAT losses in other member states.
报告称，还应考虑对增值税体系进行彻底改革。现在免征增值税的外贸销售可以按一同的规范税率（譬如说10%）征税，而各国可自行确定对最后买家征收的税率。
Fundamental reform of the VAT system should also be considered, it says. Cross-border sales - which are currently VAT-free - could be taxed at a common standard rate of, say, 10 per cent, with inpidual countries free to set their own tax rates for final consumers.
这将是一个现行增值税体系和原始体系的混合体，由产品出口国征收增值税，然后移交给产品销售国。长期以来，这种办法一直遭到欧盟委员会的喜爱，却遭到成员国的抵制，它们担忧这会需要统一增值税税率。
This would be a hybrid4 of the existing VAT system and the origin system, in which the tax is collected in the country exporting the goods and then transferred to the country where the goods are sold. This approach has long been favoured by the Commission but rejected by member states, which fear it would require harmonisation of VAT rates.
国际增值税协会还呼吁改变成员国之间的信息共享，借助新技术健全买卖追踪，加速信息交流。
The IVA also calls for better information-sharing among member states, using new technology to improve transaction tracking and speed up exchanges of information.
报告对某些成员国试图借助逆向收费机制（将增值税转变为一种销售税）打击欺诈的做法提出了批评。报告指出，这种办法成倍扩大了逃税的可能来源。
The report criticises member states' attempts to combat fraud with a reverse charge mechanism5, which turns VAT into a form of sales tax. It says this approach multiplies the potential sources of tax evasion6.
