Tag Archives: Residence

Refund of VAT: taxable persons established in another EU country

Outline of the Community (European Union) legislation about Refund of VAT: taxable persons established in another EU country

Topics

These categories group together and put in context the legislative and non-legislative initiatives which deal with the same topic.

Taxation

Refund of VAT: taxable persons established in another EU country

Document or Iniciative

Council Directive 2008/9/EC of 12 February 2008 laying down detailed rules for the refund of value added tax, provided for in Directive 2006/112/EC, to taxable persons not established in the Member State of refund but established in another Member State [See amending act(s)].

Summary

This directive lays down the detailed rules for the refund of value added tax (VAT), provided for in Directive 2006/112/EC, to taxable persons not established in the European Union (EU) country of refund * but established in another EU country.

This directive applies to any taxable person not established in the EU country of refund who, during the refund period:

has not had in the EU country of refund, the seat of his economic activity, a fixed establishment from which business transactions were effected or, in the absence of such a seat or fixed establishment, his domicile or normal place of residence;
has not supplied any goods or services in the EU country of refund, with the exception of the supply of certain transport services and the supply of goods and services to a person who is liable to pay VAT.

Directive 2006/112/EC establishes the transactions which EU countries may exempt from VAT. EU countries must therefore refund to any taxable person not established in the country of refund any VAT charged in respect of goods or services supplied to him by other taxable persons in that EU country or in respect of the importation of goods into that country, when used for the purposes of the transactions listed in Directive 2006/112/EC.

To be eligible for a refund in the EU country of refund, a taxable person not established in this country must carry out transactions giving rise to a right of deduction in the EU country of establishment. When a taxable person not established in the EU country of refund carries out in his EU country of establishment both transactions producing a right of deduction and transactions not producing a right of deduction in that country, the EU country of refund will only pay the proportion of refundable VAT.

Refund application

This directive establishes a fully electronic procedure, whereby the taxable person not established in the EU country of refund addresses an electronic refund application to the EU country of refund and submits it to his EU country of establishment via the electronic portal of that country. The refund application relates to the purchase of goods or services which was invoiced during the refund period, and the importation of goods during the refund period.

The refund application must be submitted to the EU country of establishment by the 30 September of the calendar year following the refund period. The amount of VAT refund applied for must not be less than EUR 400. If the country is late in making the refund payment, the applicant will be entitled to interest on the amount of the refund.

This directive repeals Directive 79/1072/EEC, however its provisions continue to apply to refund applications submitted before 1 January 2010.

Key terms used in the act
EU country of refund: the EU country in which the VAT was charged to the taxable person in respect of goods or services supplied to him by other taxable persons in that EU country or in respect of the importation of goods into that EU country.

References

Act	Entry into force	Deadline for transposition in the Member States	Official Journal
Directive 2008/9/EC	20.2.2008	1.1.2010	OJ L 44, 20.2.2008

Amending act(s)	Entry into force	Deadline for transposition in the Member States	Official Journal
Directive 2010/66/EU	21.10.2010	–	OJ L 275, 20.10.2010

Successive amendments and corrections to Directive 2008/9/EC have been incorporated into the basic text. This consolidated version is for reference only.

Related Acts

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1174/2009 of 30 November 2009 laying down rules for the implementation of Articles 34a and 37 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 as regards refunds of value added tax under Council Directive 2008/9/EC [Official Journal 314 of 1.12.2009].

This summary is for information only. It is not designed to interpret or replace the reference document, which remains the only binding legal text.

Community statistics on asylum and migration

Outline of the Community (European Union) legislation about Community statistics on asylum and migration

Topics

These categories group together and put in context the legislative and non-legislative initiatives which deal with the same topic.

Justice freedom and security > Free movement of persons asylum and immigration

Community statistics on asylum and migration

Document or Iniciative

Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 311/76 on the compilation of statistics on foreign workers.

Summary

This regulation establishes common rules for the collection of Community statistics on migration by European Union (EU) countries. It concerns statistics relating to immigration * to and emigration * from an EU country, citizenship and country of birth of persons resident in the territories of EU countries, and administrative and judicial procedures relating to migration.

Statistics on migration, international protection, illegal immigration and returns

EU countries are required to provide Eurostat with statistics on the numbers of:

immigrants moving to their territories;
emigrants moving from their territories;
persons usually resident in their territories;
residence permits issued, including long-term residence permits;
natural persons having acquired national citizenship.

EU countries are also required to give the numbers of:

persons applying for international protection;
persons covered by applications under consideration by the national authorities;
applications rejected;
applications granting refugee, subsidiary protection and temporary protection statuses;
unaccompanied minors;
applications and transfers covered by the Dublin II Regulation;
persons selected for resettlement *.

In addition, EU countries must provide Eurostat with statistics on the numbers of non-EU country nationals who have been refused entry at their external borders and who have been found illegally present in their territories.

Furthermore, EU countries must provide statistics on the number of administrative or judicial decisions imposing an obligation to leave their territories, as well as on the number of non-EU country nationals who are returned to their countries of origin, countries of transit or other non-EU countries.

Provisions common to the different categories

The statistics are based on:

records of administrative and judicial actions;
registers relating to administrative actions and population registers;
censuses;
sample surveys.

As a rule, the statistics are disaggregated by age, sex and nationality. The Commission may adopt other disaggregations, such as the year in which the residence permit was granted for the first time (statistics on residence permits) or reason for refusal or arrest (statistics on illegal entry and immigration).

The Commission is assisted by the Statistical Programming Committee. It will submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the regulation by 20 August 2012 at the latest (and then every three years).

Background

This regulation is in response to the conclusions of the Thessaloniki European Council of June 2003, which asked for more effective mechanisms for collecting and analysing information on migration and asylum in the EU. The Commission had previously published an action plan laying down the objectives for developing statistics in this field.

Key terms used in the act
Immigration: the action by which a person establishes his or her residence in the territory of another EU or non-EU country for a period of at least twelve months; Emigration: the action by which a person, having previously been resident in the territory of an EU country, changes his or her country of residence for a period of at least twelve months; Resettlement: the transfer of non-EU country nationals to an EU country where they are permitted to reside for the purposes of international protection.

Key terms used in the act

Immigration: the action by which a person establishes his or her residence in the territory of another EU or non-EU country for a period of at least twelve months;
Emigration: the action by which a person, having previously been resident in the territory of an EU country, changes his or her country of residence for a period of at least twelve months;
Resettlement: the transfer of non-EU country nationals to an EU country where they are permitted to reside for the purposes of international protection.

References

Act	Entry into force	Deadline for transposition in the Member States	Official Journal
Regulation (EC) No 862/2007	20.8.2007	–	OJ L 199 of 31.7.2007

Related Acts

Commission Regulation (EU) No 351/2010 of 23 April 2010 implementing Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on migration and international protection as regards the definitions of the categories of the groups of country of birth, groups of country of previous usual residence, groups of country of next usual residence and groups of citizenship [Official Journal L 104 of 24.4.2010].
To ensure the comparability of statistics from EU countries and to allow the drawing up of reliable EU-wide overviews from these statistics, it is essential that all EU countries define certain categories of groups in the same manner. Consequently, this regulation establishes the categories of groups of:

country of birth;
country of previous usual residence;
next usual residence;
citizenship.

EU countries must transmit data to the Commission according to these groups, as listed in the annex to this regulation. The groups of countries and citizenship are divided into basic groups and additional groups of other non-EU countries and citizenship disaggregated by levels of development. The Commission provides lists of countries and citizenships for each basic and additional group.

Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 of 15 March 2010 implementing Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on migration and international protection, as regards the definitions of categories of the reasons for the residence permits [Official Journal L 66 of 16.3.2010].
To harmonise the collection of statistics by EU countries, this regulation defines in its annex the categories of reasons for issuing residence permits to non-EU country nationals. The list includes categories of reasons relating to:

family formation and reunification;
education and study;
remunerated activities.

Admission and residence of researchers from third countries

Outline of the Community (European Union) legislation about Admission and residence of researchers from third countries

Topics

These categories group together and put in context the legislative and non-legislative initiatives which deal with the same topic.

Research and innovation > Research in support of other policies

Admission and residence of researchers from third countries

Document or Iniciative

Council Directive 2005/71/EC of 12 October 2005 on a specific procedure for admitting third-country nationals for the purpose of scientific research [Official Journal L 289 of 3 November 2005].

Summary

The Human Resources and Mobility part of the Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme of research earmarks EUR 1.6 billion for support for the training, mobility and career development of researchers. The European Union needs at least 700 000 additional researchers by 2010 if it is to achieve the objective set by the Barcelona European Council of spending 3% of the Member States’ GDP (gross domestic product) on research and technological development.

The purpose of the Directive is to introduce a special procedure governing the entry and residence of third-country nationals coming to carry out a research project in the European Community for a period of more than three months. The aim is to facilitate the admission and mobility of researchers by relieving the immigration authorities in the Member States of the task of checking whether the research project is credible and whether the researcher has the necessary skills to see it through.

Scope

The Directive applies to third-country nationals, except where more favourable provisions apply under bilateral or multilateral agreements concluded between the Community, or the Community and its Member States, and one or more non-member countries.

However, it does not apply to:

applicants for asylum or subsidiary protection or under temporary protection schemes;
doctoral students conducting research relating to their theses as students (as they are covered by Directive 2004/114/EC on the conditions of entry and residence of third country nationals for the purposes of studies, vocational training or voluntary service);
third-country nationals whose expulsion has been suspended for reasons of fact or law;
researchers seconded by a research organisation to another research organisation in a different Member State.

Research organisations

Any research organisation wishing to host a researcher must first be approved by the Member State in which it is located.

To make it easier to access information, lists of approved research organisations must be published each year in the Member States. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, authorisations granted to a research organisation will be valid for a minimum of five years.

The Member States may require a written commitment from the research organisation, stating that if the researcher resides unlawfully in the territory of the Member State concerned, the organisation will be responsible for reimbursing the cost of the researcher’s subsistence or return paid out of public funds. The research organisation’s financial responsibility will end six months after the end of the hosting agreement at the latest.

A research organisation wishing to host a researcher must sign a hosting agreement with the latter, i.e. a legal contract whereby the researcher undertakes to complete the research project and the organisation undertakes to host the researcher subject to the researcher being issued with a residence permit.

Research organisations may sign hosting agreements only if:

the research project has been accepted by the relevant authorities in the organisation after examination of the purpose and duration of the research, the availability of the necessary financial resources and the researcher’s qualifications;
the researcher will have sufficient monthly resources during his or her stay, including all-risk sickness insurance, to avoid having recourse to the host State’s social welfare system. No minimum amount is set in the proposal, as the decision will be taken by the individual Member States;
the hosting agreement specifies the legal relationship of researchers and their working conditions.

The hosting agreement will automatically end if the researcher is not admitted or once the legal relationship between the researcher and the research organisation comes to an end.

Research organisations will promptly inform the authority designated for the purpose by the Member States of any occurrence likely to prevent implementation of the hosting agreement.

Admission of researchers

Member States must admit researchers if they:

present a valid passport or equivalent travel documents;
present a hosting agreement signed with a research organisation;
present a statement of financial responsibility issued by the research organisation;
are not considered to pose a threat to public policy, public security or public health.

Member States must issue a residence permit for one year or more and renew it annually. If the research project is scheduled to last less than one year, the residence permit must be issued for the duration of the project. Member States may withdraw or refuse to renew a residence permit for reasons of public policy, public security or public health.

Member States may decide to award a residence permit to a researcher’s family members, whose permit will last for the same length of time as the researcher’s (provided that their travel documents are valid).

Member States may withdraw or refuse to renew a previously issued residence permit if the latter was acquired fraudulently or if it transpires that the holder of the permit did not meet or no longer meets the entry and residency conditions stipulated, or if he or she is residing in the country for reasons other than those authorised.

Member States may withdraw or refuse to renew a residence permit for reasons of public policy, public security or public health.

Researchers’ rights

Researchers have the right to enter and reside on the territory of the Member State which has admitted them and to conduct the research project there. Holders of a residence permit will be entitled to equal treatment with nationals as regards:

recognition of diplomas, certificates and other professional qualifications;
working conditions, including pay and dismissal;
social insurance as defined by national legislation;
tax concessions;
access to goods and services and the supply of goods and services made available to the public.

This new residence permit must also allow sufficient mobility for part of the research project to be conducted on the territory of another Member State.

Procedure and transparency

Member States must determine whether applications for residence permits are to be made by the researcher or by the research organisation concerned. Applications must be submitted:

either in the researcher’s country of residence via the diplomatic or consular authorities of the Member State where he/she wishes to conduct the research; or
directly on the territory of the Community, if the researcher is lawfully present there.

The relevant authorities in the Member State must notify the applicant in writing of their decision regarding his/her application for admission or for the renewal of his/her residence permit as soon as possible. Reasons must be given for any decision refusing, amending, refusing to renew or withdrawing a residence permit. Third-country nationals have the right to appeal to the courts of the Member State concerned against any decision.

Transposition

Member States are required to transpose the Directive by 31 December 2006. By virtue of Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocols on the positions of Denmark and of the United Kingdom and Ireland, annexed to the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, the Directive will not apply to those countries.

Reports

Periodically, and for the first time no later than three years after the entry into force of this Directive, the Commission must report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of this Directive in the Member States and shall propose such amendments as may appear necessary.

Pursuant to the principle of subsidiarity, Member States have to settle matters such as what financial resources researchers must have in order to be admitted, the length of the residence permit and the option of adopting more favourable arrangements and extending the benefits of the admission procedure.

References

Act	Entry into force – Date of expiry	Deadline for transposition in the Member States	Official Journal
Decision 2005/71/EC	23.11.2005	12.10.2007	OJ L 289, 3.11.2005.

Related Acts

Council Directive 2004/114/EC

on the conditions of admission of third-country nationals for the purposes of studies, pupil exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service.

Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Researchers in the European Research Area: one profession, multiple careers [COM(2003) 436 final – not published in the Official Journal].

Communication from the Commission: the role of the universities in the Europe of knowledge [COM(2003) 58 final – not published in the Official Journal].

Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: the Commission’s Action Plan for skills and mobility [COM(2002) 72 final – not published in the Official Journal].

Communication from the Commission: Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality [COM(2001) 678 final – not published in the Official Journal].

Commission Recommendation on the European Charter for Researchers and on a Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers [COM(2005) 576 final – not published in the Official Journal].