Glossary
Definition. Digital reporting requirements (DRR) are legal obligations for businesses to submit transaction data to the tax authority electronically, in a defined structured format and on a defined timetable. Under EU ViDA rules, DRR for intra-EU B2B transactions apply from July 2030.
Digital reporting requirements are the legal instrument that makes real-time and near-real-time reporting mandatory. Where real-time reporting names the operating model, DRR names the obligation: the specific rules in law that say which transactions must be reported, in what structured format, through which channel, and by when. A DRR regime turns the general idea of continuous data flows into an enforceable duty with defined formats and deadlines.
In the EU, DRR is a central pillar of the VAT in the Digital Age package, adopted as Council Directive (EU) 2025/516. From 1 July 2030, cross-border intra-EU B2B transactions must be reported through structured digital reporting based on e-invoicing, replacing the older recapitulative statements. It is worth being precise about the timeline, because it is easy to garble: the platform-economy and single-VAT-registration measures of ViDA take effect from 2028, while the intra-EU digital reporting and e-invoicing obligation applies from July 2030, with the wider transition running to 2035. Alongside the EU framework, individual member states have introduced or are introducing their own domestic DRR regimes on their own schedules.
DRR matters because it is where the policy vision meets the statute book. Continuous transaction controls and real-time reporting are concepts; DRR is the concrete obligation a finance team has to implement, and it drives the systems investment that makes seamless taxation real on the ground.
The honest nuance is fragmentation. Because DRR is being set both at EU level and country by country, with differing formats, scopes and dates, businesses trading across borders face overlapping regimes rather than one harmonised rulebook. The country tracker on this site exists to keep that moving picture legible.