Value-added tax (VAT) has existed across the EU for decades. If you’ve purchased any goods or services from an EU-based provider, you’re already familiar with VAT charges on your invoice. But the way we know VAT is changing thanks to something called ViDA.
It stands for VAT in the Digital Age – an initiative that was proposed in 2022, adopted in 2025, and will be progressively rolled out through 2035. It’s not a new tax but a way to modernize how VAT information is reported, tracked, and exchanged between EU-based businesses and tax authorities.
A lot is still taking shape with ViDA. Many of the operational details continue to evolve as countries, tax authorities, and companies develop their individual approaches. Research shows that only 22% of EU businesses have an official transition strategy and only 35% have a detailed understanding of ViDA’s specific requirements.
As a global IT expense management leader, we’re starting to see more telecom providers prepare for this mandatory shift – and the questions buyers have. Let’s look at what ViDA is all about and where the impact is felt.
I Have Telecom Providers in the EU. How Will ViDA Affect Me?
At its core, ViDA is about three things.
- Digitizing VAT reporting: Making VAT reporting faster, more transparent, and less reliant on manual, error-prone processes.
- Simplifying VAT registration across the EU: Making it easier for businesses operating across multiple countries to manage VAT compliance.
- Modernizing VAT rules for the platform economy: Bringing tax regulations in line with today’s digital marketplaces and service platforms.
For telecom buyers, No. 1 is the focus: new invoicing and reporting requirements tied to digital VAT reporting. Invoices will start carrying some new information – specifically, e-invoice authorization codes and other VAT-related identifiers that help connect invoices to the digital reporting requirements of ViDA. These e-invoicing requirements are mandatory by 2030, but many established EU vendors are already exchanging tax data electronically with tax authorities, so they’re grandfathered under certain ViDA e-invoicing requirements.
This is the most immediate change, and the only impact it will have (if any) will be on invoices, AP, and expense management processes. A customer’s internal tax processes need to be set up to capture and retain this new VAT tax information – otherwise, cracks will form for data to slip through. What starts as a missing identifier could become a much bigger headache when it comes time to validate VAT information or run audits in the future.
Are you prepared? Here are three questions to tell.
1. Where do your telecom invoices go after they’re received?
Whether invoices are managed internally, through AP, or through a telecom expense management (TEM) provider, you should understand where invoice data is captured, stored, and processed.
2. Can your systems capture new invoice information without manual workarounds?
As providers begin adding new information to invoices, make sure it stays with the invoice throughout its lifecycle. If you have to resort to spreadsheets, email chains, or manual tracking, you’re creating new opportunities for information to fall through the cracks.
3. Who owns invoice and VAT-related data management?
Make sure everyone understands their role. Your TEM provider will remain responsible for managing the information that appears on your telecom invoices. If your organization needs a complete VAT tax breakdown (VAT reporting data across all EU vendors, which most AP and accounting departments likely need) that’s a conversation for your tax and finance teams, who can determine whether an access point provider is needed.
Access point providers are the gatekeepers of VAT reporting data, helping businesses access and manage VAT information for all business goods and services – not only telecommunication-related taxes – exchanged as part of ViDA reporting requirements.
Do I Need to Do Anything to Comply?
Providers will shoulder the work required to comply with ViDA, and much of it will happen behind the scenes. For most organizations, the biggest change will simply be understanding the new information on their invoices and ensuring that information is properly captured and retained.
If you use Tangoe One Telecom to manage your telecom expenses, there’s little you need to do from an invoice management perspective. Tangoe is prepared to capture ViDA-related information that may appear on telecom invoices and keep that information flowing through existing invoice management and bill pay processes.
Understand, Prepare, and Stay Ahead
There’s no need to panic, but you should always know what’s coming. That’s the mantra of IT expense management, and it extends to ViDA.
The only thing that will truly change is what appears on the telecom invoice itself – and if you work with Tangoe, that information will continue flowing through the same processes and workflows you rely on today. If you manage telecom invoices internally, start thinking now about whether your current process is equipped to capture and retain the new data that will eventually emerge.
If you’re still scratching your head or feeling a little anxious, schedule a consult with one of our telecom advisors. We’re here to help you wrap your arms around all the complexity and change that’s constantly happening across today’s IT landscape – because no one should have to go it alone.