The appeal is part of a resolution approved at a UFE meeting, which runs until Tuesday in Vilamoura, as announced by the Portuguese Tax Workers Union (STI), a member of the organization.
“The UFE emphasizes that the success of this initiative depends on a coordinated, ambitious, and immediate response by European institutions and national governments,” it states.
The legislative package of the VAT in the Digital Age, known as “VIDA,” was proposed by the European Commission in 2022 but only adopted by the Member States on March 11, 2025, following negotiations with the European Parliament.
The plan includes new requirements for digital reporting, mandatory electronic invoicing under specific conditions, and changes to the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS), among other measures, which must be progressively implemented by January 2035 by the 27 Member States.
In the statement, UFE President Florian Kobler considers the “VIDA system represents a historic opportunity to restore citizen trust and modernize European tax administration” and that “the financial and institutional impact of the delay [in its implementation] is unsustainable.”
“Inertia is no longer acceptable,” he states.
“The urgency of this request is supported by alarming financial and systemic indicators. It is estimated that daily losses associated with the absence of an integrated VAT system amount to 244 million euros, a monthly delay cost of around 7.4 billion euros, and an annual opportunity cost exceeding 89 billion euros. Without intervention, tax fraud is expected to worsen by 15% annually, accompanied by a significant drop in citizen trust in European tax systems,” the STI statement reads.
During the Vilamoura meeting, the union says several resolutions were approved, including “the immediate development of the unified platform by the European Commission and the launch of large-scale recruitment and training programs by the Member States to mobilize the necessary human resources for the effective operation of the system.”
With VIDA, European businesses operating in the international market will automatically communicate real-time electronic invoicing to tax administrations, and authorities will share this data through a new computer system.
According to information published on the EU Council’s website, the rules are expected to come into force in 2030, with “full interoperability between national systems by 2035.”
Last week, at a parliamentary hearing on September 24, Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs Claudia Reis Duarte said that Portugal has already begun working on adapting e-fatura to these new rules for the Portuguese tax system to enable real-time communication.
“The e-fatura will undergo significant reconfiguration, mainly due to the initiative being discussed in the European Union, VIDA – ‘VAT in the Digital Age’, which has a set of proposals, the first being that there is real-time invoicing, communicated in real-time,” said the Secretary of State, explaining that “this will require the […] e-fatura to be adapted to this new reality.”
