From 1 January 2015, the place of taxation for broadcasting, telecommunications and e-services (BTE) services involving business to consumer (B2C) supplies will be determined by the location of the consumer (the 'member state of consumption' or MSC) . The MOSS is an IT system that will allow businesses to designate a country,  a 'member state of identification' (MSI), to be their single contact point to account for VAT due in all member states by submitting a single return to that MSI’s national tax authority.

As MOSS VAT returns will include tax due in a number of MSCs, national tax authorities will have to agree how best to contact businesses as part of an audit and the method businesses should use to provide the information required by an audit.

The EC has developed some recommended guidelines for standard audit and control activities but these are are not binding over national rules.

The guidelines recommend that initial contact with taxable persons should, where possible, be routed through the MSI, after which a case by case approach is advisable.

In addition, MSIs should use their normal national procedures when contacting taxable persons registered for the EU scheme and initial contact with non-EU scheme users registered in the MSI should be by email.

Where there is contact from the MSC, this should be initiated via the taxable person’s contact email address for both EU and non-EU businesses; and the best method for the exchange of information should be agreed between the taxable person and the tax authority.

More details are available at http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/telecom/one-stop_add_guidelines_en.pdf