The DAC7 Directive on reporting obligations for digital platforms enters into force on January 1, 2023

20 January 2022

What does the directive contain?

The DAC7 Directive authorizes and obliges digital platforms to collect information about their platform vendors and vendor activities. According to the Directive, digital platforms obliged to report are those digital platforms, websites and mobile applications that allow the seller to communicate with buyers, either directly or indirectly, for the purpose of carrying out reportable activities. Platforms will henceforth be required to identify all their sellers, collect data on their activities, validate the data and report it annually to tax authorities. The seller information to be collected includes the seller's name, personal identification number or business ID, address, tax identification number, and bank details. The sales data to be collected includes for example revenue on the platform and possible commissions or other fees.

Directive timeline - data collection and reporting deadlines

The Directive enters into force on 1 January 2023. After that date, the platforms need to start collecting the data specified in the Directive.

The reporting period is a calendar year. The first reporting deadline is January 31, 2024, one month after the end of the first reporting period. The data collected up to that date, i.e. the identity information of the sellers and their sales data, must be reported to the national tax authorities.

For sellers already registered on the platform before DAC7 entered into force, the platforms have been given additional time to carry out the first seller due diligence information collection. The identification of old sellers must be completed by 31 December 2024 and the data must be reported one month later, 31 January 2025.

After these deadlines, data collection and its validation will continue in an annual cycle - platforms identify their new vendors, collect the required data and report it to local tax authorities. Tax authorities exchange their information with other Member States’ tax authorities. Responsibility for the reporting and the accuracy of the reported information is always on the platform, but data collection, its verification and reporting can be outsourced to a third party.