VALUE ADDED TAXATION OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE: THE EU LEGAL FRAMEWORK

U ovom se radu analizira sustav pravila stvoren u pravu Europske unije (EU), a koji regulira oporezivanje elektroničke trgovine (e-trgovine) porezom na dodanu vrijednost (PDV). Nastanak i ubrzani razvoj e-trgovine nametnuli su potrebu stvaranja posebnog pravnog okvira za njezino oporezivanje na globalnoj razini. EU je danas jedina nadnacionalna tvorevina na svijetu u kojoj svih 27 država članica primjenjuje jedinstveni sustav pravila za oporezivanje elektronički isporučenih usluga (e-usluga), kao jedne podvrste e-trgovine, PDV-om. Taj je sustav pravila stvoren intervencijama zakonodavca EU-a prvenstveno u Šestu direktivu, odnosno Direktivu 2006/112/EZ, koja je najvažniji izvor za harmonizaciju PDV-a u EU, ali i donošenjem niza provedbenih akata. Nakon definiranja osnovnih pojmova bitnih za ovu tematiku te povijesnog prikaza osnovnih napora stvaranja posebnog pravnog okvira u EU, u radu se, prizmom poreznopravne analize, iznosi pregled najvažnijih odrednica sustava oporezivanja e-usluga PDV-om u EU, s posebnim osvrtom na pravila o mjestu oporezivanja. Ukazuje se kako je sustav stvoren na teoretski prihvatljivim osnovama, ali su i dalje prisutni brojni problemi, posebno u praktičnoj primjeni utvrđenih pravila, te se na neke od njih pokušava dati i prikladno rješenje. Osnovne spoznaje u ovom iznimno aktualnom području iznose se analizom relevantnih izvora prava EU-a te znanstvene i stručne literature.This paper analyzes the EU system of rules applicable to the value added taxation of electronic commerce (e-commerce). Twin elements of emergence and rapid development of e-commerce resulted in the need for the creation of a special legal framework for its taxation on a global level. Nowadays every EU Member State applies an identical set of rules for VAT taxation of electronically supplied services (e-services). These rules were created at the supranational EU level, primarily by amendments to the Sixth Directive and Directive 2006/112/EC, as the main sources of VAT harmonization in the EU, but also by the adoption of various implementing acts. In this light attempts are made to explain the fundamental concepts of this field as well as to provide a historic overview of the most important efforts in the EU aimed at the construction of a special regime for VAT taxation of e-services. Likewise, the author analyzes the main features of this regime with special emphasis on the place-of-supply rules. Although the given regime is theoretically well-founded, there are still many problems (especially with the practical application of the established rules) wherefore, this paper aims to determine appropriate solutions for some of them. To this end basic concepts of this everdeveloping area are presented in accordance with the relevant sources of EU law and scholarly and professional literature