A proposed policy on "Value Added Tax in the Digital Age (ViDA)" paved the way as part of the ongoing process to digitalize the tax system, including all of its inherent benefits and challenges.

The 2023 VAT Conference organized by JKU professors Achatz, Bieber and Tumpel (Institute for Financial Law / Institute for Business Taxation) focused on this draft for this very reason. Presentations on "electronic invoices", "mandatory reporting", "electronic platform economy", "VAT registration", "sharing information", "operational implementation", "digital tax audits", and "fiscal criminal law" covered many important areas.

The following questions appear to be worth asking: Can companies (particularly SMEs) even be expected to comply with the proposed regulations? Are a majority of honest companies potentially being overloaded with documentation and administrative work under the pretext of tackling fraud? Are we heading down a path to becoming a "transparent taxpayer"? Under financial criminal law, who is responsible if digitalization processes fail?

The JKU conference addressed these, and many other questions, together with a large number of interested participants.