In
this article the authors address the proposal to transform the status of the
VAT Committee into a ‘comitology
committee’ tabled
by the European Commission in December 2020. The proposal basically confers
implementation powers to the Commission via comitology in the area of EU Value
Added Tax (hereinafter: VAT). If adopted by the EU Member States, this would
lead to a groundbreaking situation in which for the first time in the area of
taxation the decision-making based on unanimity of EU Member States is dropped
in an area that does directly affect the EU Member States’ national tax revenues. The authors
take this opportunity to explain the function and the consequences of the
comitology procedure. After describing the core of the proposal, the authors
pay a visit to other legislative areas in taxation where the comitology
procedures apply before they dive deep in the scope of the powers granted under
the proposal and reach a conclusion. The authors doubt whether the proposal
will be adopted and whether EU Member States are prepared to confer more powers
to the European Commission.