Completed Research Projects

 

Doctoral Thesis Project: Nora Schreier

Funding for research fellowships in Münster and Rotterdam: Marietta Blau-Grant

 

Abstract: 

The primary goal of VAT in Austria is to generate revenue for the Austrian state while also contributing to the European Union’s own resources. Nevertheless, there are multiple provisions in Austrian VAT law as well as the underlying VAT Directive that pursue various policy goals in the public interest beyond merely generating revenue. While these policy provisions have received some attention in economic and political literature, a research gap remains regarding the legal dimension, particularly in relation to Austrian VAT law and the VAT Directive. 

The thesis aims to close this research gap by defining the legal scope of action for both the EU and the Austrian legislator when pursuing policy goals in VAT law. To this end, the thesis firstly characterizes the specific legal instruments available to the legislator for pursuing policy goals in VAT. Subsequently, the existing policy provisions in Austrian VAT law are categorized and analyzed, taking into account the VAT Directive and relevant ECJ case law. Moreover, the thesis defines the framework of EU primary and Austrian constitutional law limiting the legislative scope of action for pursuing policy goals in VAT law. The legal issues associated with policy provisions in VAT are identified in the context of the EU primary and Austrian constitutional law frameworks, considering the specific characteristics of VAT. The proportionality of VAT policy provisions is found to be especially problematic in the light of the principle of equal treatment. Finally, a proposal is made for mitigating the identified legal issues of VAT policy provisions in the future by implementing ex ante and ex post evaluations.

 

Relevant publications:

  • Schreier, Leistungsfähigkeit und Umsatzsteuer aus österreichischer Perspektive, ÖStZ 2025, 469.
  • Schreier/Anderwald, VAT as a Policy Instrument in the European Union. A legal framework for pursuing policy objectives in VAT law, EC Tax Review 2023, 239.
  • Anderwald/Schreier, Umsatzsteuer: Zwischen Finanzierungs- und Gestaltungsinstrument, ÖJA 2023, 351.

 

Behavioral science-based tax enforcement for small and medium-sized enterprises caught between cooperative collaboration and automated “monitoring”

 

Funding: Excellence funding within the Field of Excellence Smart Regulation

Planned Project Duration: 04/2022 – 03/2023

Project Leads: Professor Barbara Gunacker-Slawitsch (Department of Tax and Fiscal Law) & Professor Katja Corcoran (Department of Psychology)

Cooperation Partner: Professor Robert Rybnicek (Department of Corporate Leadership and Entrepreneurship)

 

With the aim of increasing state revenues and conserving state resources, many countries – including Austria – are currently taking steps to further develop or realign their tax enforcement systems. In particular, modern technologies “designed” with the latest behavioral science findings in mind are to be used. According to the OECD's vision, taxpayers (especially in the SME sector) will in the near future only have to “fulfill” their tax obligations by using technical devices or programs that are connected to the state via the Internet. Information relevant to tax collection is to be transmitted automatically and in real time to the state, and tax enforcement is to become “virtually invisible” to taxpayers.

However, in a tax enforcement system that preserves freedom, citizen participation must continue to play a central role. Effective and efficient regulation of enforcement in a smart regulation approach, which also includes nudging, artificial intelligence (AI), and consensus-building instruments, therefore requires empirically based knowledge of the factors that influence the behavior and willingness to cooperate of taxpayers. The relevant OECD studies on this topic focus on large and internationally active companies; However, in countries such as Austria, the corporate landscape is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and numerous business studies have documented the special characteristics of SMEs. Furthermore, there has been no evaluation of psychological and behavioral economic studies on taxpayer behavior with regard to the challenges of modern tax enforcement in this sector. The initial aim of this project is to gain clearer insights into the behavior of taxpayers in the SME sector. It is expected that this will enable conclusions to be drawn, for example, for the design of modern technologies within a constitutionally permissible framework and that the limits of constitutionally permissible behavioral control can be better defined. Overall, tax enforcement must strike an appropriate balance between effectiveness and efficiency on the one hand and adequate protection of individual freedoms on the other.

In an interdisciplinary research project involving representatives from the fields of psychology, law, and business administration, proposals are being developed for a new regulation of tax enforcement in the SME sector, which could be implemented in Austria and serve as inspiration and a model for other countries.

New Intermediaries in European Value Added Tax: Services in the Platform Economy as a case study

 

Funding: Austrian Academy of Sciences

Funding Program: DOC Fellowship Programme

Funding Period: 1.2.2020 – 11.9.2022

Abstract: In today’s economy, Internet platforms facilitating transactions play a central role. They connect users globally and enable them to exchange digital or analog services (cross-border). This can result in services under EU VAT law between the platform operator and its users as well as between users. Platform operators acting as intermediaries can provide a bridge between substantive VAT laws and enforcement of those laws. 

Taxing services offered via Internet platforms presents the government with numerous challenges. First, the lines are blurred between active market participants and consumers. This causes difficulties in determining who is a taxable person for VAT purposes and in correctly attributing services under current VAT laws. Second, enforcement risks arise because services sold on Internet platforms are not readily visible for the government. To ensure effectiveness and administrability of the EU’s common system of VAT, the legislature has expanded the use of statutory presumptions. In addition, EU VAT rules increasingly apply information reporting obligations and liability regimes to platform operators. 

This thesis provides a framework for assessing services in platform-based business models for VAT purposes. It refers to concrete examples and shows that the traditional rules of the EU’s common system of VAT are sufficiently broad to cover many services sold on Internet platforms. Moreover, the thesis identifies factual limitations to VAT enforcement in the platform economy and discusses legal boundaries to introducing substantive and enforcement measures by considering the case law of the European Court of Justice and the Austrian Constitutional Court. 

 

Relevant publications: 

  • Zechner, Understanding VAT in Three-Party, Platform-Based Business Models: Which Party is Supplying Which Service? EC Tax Review 2022, pp. 171 - 183
  • Ehrke-Rabel/Hammerl/Zechner, "VAT in the Digital Economy" (in German language), ifst-Schrift 538 (2021)
  • Hammerl/Zechner, "Platform Operators' Roles in VAT Enforcement" (in German language), SWK-Spezial (2020)
  • Zechner, "Airbnb and VAT: Attributing Supplies of Services to Internet Platform Operators and/or their Users" (in German language), Österreichische Steuerzeitung 2020, pp. 300 - 309
  • Ehrke-Rabel/Zechner, VAT Treatment of Cryptocurrency Intermediation Services, Intertax 2020, pp. 498 - 514
  • Zechner, How to Treat the Ride-Hailing Company Uber for VAT Purposes, International VAT Monitor 2019, pp. 261 - 265
  • Ehrke-Rabel/Eisenberger/Hödl/Zechner, “Legal and Regulatory Aspects of Bitcoin Mining as a Form of Prosuming” (in German language), Austrian Law Journal 2017, pp. 188 - 223
  • Zechner, “VAT Treatment of Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Wallet Providers” (in German language), taxlex 2017, pp. 388 - 399

The H2020 project ETAPAS explores the use of disruptive technologies in public administration. The aim of ETAPAS is to develop a framework for the responsible use of disruptive technologies in the public sector together with representatives of public authorities.

ETAPAS stands for „Ethical Technology Adaption in Public Administration Services”. The project is coordinated by the Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze (Italy) and comprises partners from Italy, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Belgium, Sweden, France and Austria.

The ETAPAS team at the University of Graz is coordinated by Professor Iris Eisenbergerv and Professor Tina Ehrke-Rabel. The team is currently focusing on the existing legal framework in the EU regarding the use of disruptive technologies. Building on this, the team will examine four different use-cases. The use cases include (among others) a municipality-chatbot and care-robots and are intended to enable general guidelines for the ethical and legally sound use of disruptive technologies by public authorities.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101004594 

Website: https://www.etapasproject.eu/

Within the EU project SOTER, research is being conducted on a comprehensive solution for secure access to financial services. The focus will be on both the development of a digital on-boarding platform and the creation of appropriate training materials for employees of this critical infrastructure. The collaboration within the project involves researchers from different disciplines from four countries (Spain, Austria, Ireland and the UK).