Data As Consideration? Why The EU Commission's New Paper Changes The Debate On VAT And Digital Platforms

A Debate That Just Became More Serious

For years, policymakers and tax authorities have discussed a provocative question: Are users "paying" for digital services with their personal data?

Italy pushed this question further than any other Member State — issuing billion-euro VAT assessments against major US platforms, arguing that the provision of personal data constitutes consideration for platform access¹.

On 17 November 2025, the European Commission published a new working paper that reframes this debate in a fundamental way². The paper provides the most structured and technically nuanced analysis since 2018. And it challenges some of the key assumptions underlying the Italian approach.