VAT Terms Around Europe in Local Languages

VAT is often considered an “European” tax. Its invention in the 1950s is widely attributed to Maurice Lore, a French economist and director of the tax administration. Independently, in Germany, industrialist Wilhelm von Siemens suggested the introduction of VAT to solve the cascading problems of the sales tax. His proposal was not accepted by the German government.

Consequently, in 1958, under the presidency of René Coty and with the support of Maurice Lauré, а Minister of Economy at that time, France experimented with introducing VAT in Côte d’Ivoire. The experiment was highly successful leading to the replacement of the consumption tax with VAT in France by 1967. Since then, VAT has been adopted by almost all European countries (except for Andorra and the Vatican).

As the tax consultant role is increasingly expanding beyond the national borders, understanding VAT in different jurisdictions is important. Our experience shows that navigating this landscape is much smoother when you are armed with the local terms of VAT.