The project is being financed by the EU with one million euros from the PHARE programme, and the twinning partner of the Croatian Tax Administration is the Agency for European Integration and Economic Development of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance.
The implementation period of the project starts in June 2009 and is foreseen to last until November 2010.
The head of the Zagreb Tax Office, Marko Buljan, said this was the third in a group of projects designed to adjust Croatia to EU standards in the field of VAT and establish the VIES, and the third project that was being implemented with the assistance of the Austrian agency.
The project launched today is the most important of the three projects and one of the most important ones on Croatia\’s road to the EU because it will help adjust the national system of tax collection and protection against tax fraud to conditions on the single European market, said Buljan.
The VIES is a common computer network operated by the Central Liaison Offices established in the tax administrations of the EU member-states. The future Croatian Central Liaison Office will be responsible for the exchange of VAT information on intra-Community transactions, including electronically supplied services. (Hina)