Glossary
Definition. eIDAS2 is the EU's revised electronic identity regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1183). It requires every member state to offer at least one European Digital Identity Wallet, letting people and businesses prove identity and attributes across the EU with legal certainty.
eIDAS2 is the 2024 overhaul of the original eIDAS regulation, which had governed electronic identification and trust services in the EU since 2014. The original framework enabled cross-border recognition of national electronic identities but saw limited take-up. The revision, Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, is far more ambitious: it introduces the European Digital Identity Wallet, a state-backed app in which citizens and businesses can hold and present verified identity data and attributes.
The wallet is designed around user control and selective disclosure. A holder can prove a specific attribute, that they are a registered business, that they hold a licence, that they are over a certain age, without handing over their entire identity record. Each member state must offer at least one wallet, and under the regulation wallets are to be available for issuance by the end of 2026, with acceptance becoming mandatory in regulated private-sector settings by the end of 2027.
eIDAS2 matters to taxation because trustworthy digital identity is one of the building blocks of embedded compliance. To verify tax in real time, a system must be sure who is acting: which business, which platform, which agent. The wallet provides a common, legally recognised way to establish that certainty across borders, and its selective-disclosure design means identity can be verified without copying and pooling personal data. The system can verify identity, not the whole identity dossier.
The honest nuance is that eIDAS2 is a framework being rolled out, not a finished capability. Wallets are at pilot and early-issuance stage, adoption will be uneven across member states, and the security and privacy of the wallet ecosystem are the subject of active debate. It is a foundation being laid, and its practical value for real-time taxation will grow as issuance and acceptance mature.