Glossary
Definition. ViDA (VAT in the Digital Age) is an EU reform package, adopted as Directive (EU) 2025/516, that modernises VAT for the digital economy through digital reporting and e-invoicing, platform-economy rules and single VAT registration, phased in between 2025 and 2035.
VAT in the Digital Age is the European Union's most significant VAT reform in a generation. It was adopted on 11 March 2025 as a package built around Council Directive (EU) 2025/516, together with accompanying regulations, and entered into force in April 2025. Rather than one switch, it is a phased programme with distinct workstreams and dates.
The package has three pillars. The first is digital reporting and e-invoicing: structured e-invoicing and near-real-time digital reporting become the standard for intra-EU B2B transactions. The second is the platform economy: new deemed-supplier rules make platforms responsible for collecting VAT on certain short-term accommodation and passenger-transport services. The third is single VAT registration, which reduces the need for businesses to register for VAT in multiple member states.
The timeline is where precision matters most, because it is widely misquoted. The platform-economy and single-registration measures take effect from 2028. The intra-EU digital reporting and e-invoicing obligation applies from 1 July 2030, not 2028. Member states have been able to mandate domestic e-invoicing since the directive entered into force, and the wider harmonisation runs through to 2035. Anyone citing a single ViDA date should check which pillar they mean.
ViDA matters because it moves continuous transaction controls from a national patchwork towards an EU-wide baseline, and it interacts with Peppol, the interoperability network many businesses will use to exchange the required structured invoices. The honest nuance is that ViDA sets direction and deadlines but leaves considerable implementation detail to member states, so the practical obligations still vary by country, and the reform is a schedule of future duties rather than rules that fully apply today.