Billions of euros do not enter EU coffers every year because of fraud and under-declaration.

Omissions

• The MEP did not specify that the €128 billion figure refers specifically to the VAT gap, which is the difference between expected VAT revenue and actual VAT collected. This gap includes not only fraud but also bankruptcy, insolvency, and statistical errors.
• The VAT gap of €128 billion represents 9.5% of the total VAT tax liability.
• The most recent available data at the time of the speech (April 2026) was for 2023, published in December 2025.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Commission - Taxation and Customs UnionThe VAT compliance gap was estimated at €128 billion or 9.5% of the VAT total tax liability (VTTL) in 2023
• PrimaryEuropean Commission - Mind the Gap ReportThe VAT compliance gap, estimated in yearly studies since 2013, reached 128 billion EUR in 2023