Value Added Tax Act 1994

Acquisition of goods from member States

10 Scope of VAT on acquisitions from member States

(1) VAT shall be charged on any acquisition from another member State of any goods where—

(a) the acquisition is a taxable acquisition and takes place in the United Kingdom;

(b) the acquisition is otherwise than in pursuance of a taxable supply; and

(c) the person who makes the acquisition is a taxable person or the goods are subject to a duty of excise or consist in a new means of transport.

(2) An acquisition of goods from another member State is a taxable acquisition if—

(a) it falls within subsection (3) below or the goods consist in a new means of transport; and

(b) it is not an exempt acquisition.

(3) An acquisition of goods from another member State falls within this subsection if—

(a) the goods are acquired in the course or furtherance of—

(i) any business carried on by any person; or

(ii) any activities carried on otherwise than by way of business by any body corporate or by any club, association, organisation or other unincorporated body;

(b) it is the person who carries on that business or, as the case may be, those activities who acquires the goods; and

(c) the supplier—

(i) is taxable in another member State at the time of the transaction in pursuance of which the goods are acquired; and

(ii) in participating in that transaction, acts in the course or furtherance of a business carried on by him.

11 Meaning of acquisition of goods from another member State

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, references in this Act to the acquisition of goods from another member State shall be construed as references to any acquisition of goods in pursuance of a transaction in relation to which the following conditions are satisfied, that is to say—

(a) the transaction is a supply of goods (including anything treated for the purposes of this Act as a supply of goods); and

(b) the transaction involves the removal of the goods from another member State;

and references in this Act, in relation to such an acquisition, to the supplier shall be construed accordingly.

(2) It shall be immaterial for the purposes of subsection (1) above whether the removal of the goods from the other member State is by or under the directions of the supplier or by or under the directions of the person who acquires them or any other person.

(3) Where the person with the property in any goods does not change in consequence of anything which is treated for the purposes of this Act as a supply of goods, that supply shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as a transaction in pursuance of which there is an acquisition of goods by the person making it.

(4) The Treasury may by order provide with respect to any description of transaction that the acquisition of goods in pursuance of a transaction of that description is not to be treated for the purposes of this Act as the acquisition of goods from another member State.

12 Time of acquisition

(1) Subject to section 18 and any regulations under subsection (3) below, where goods are acquired from another member State, the acquisition shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as taking place on whichever is the earlier of—

(a) the 15th day of the month following that in which the event occurs which, in relation to that acquisition, is the first relevant event for the purposes of taxing the acquisition; and

(b) the day of the issue, in respect of the transaction in pursuance of which the goods are acquired, of an invoice of such a description as the Commissioners may by regulations prescribe.

(2) For the purposes of this Act the event which, in relation to any acquisition of goods from another member State, is the first relevant event for the purposes of taxing the acquisition is the first removal of the goods which is involved in the transaction in pursuance of which they are acquired.

(3) The Commissioners may by regulations make provision with respect to the time at which an acquisition is to be treated as taking place in prescribed cases where the whole or part of any consideration comprised in the transaction in pursuance of which the goods are acquired is determined or payable periodically, or from time to time, or at the end of a period; and any such regulations may provide, in relation to any case to which they apply, for goods to be treated as separately and successively acquired at prescribed times or intervals.

13 Place of acquisition

(1) This section shall apply (subject to section 18) for determining for the purposes of this Act whether goods acquired from another member State are acquired in the United Kingdom.

(2) The goods shall be treated as acquired in the United Kingdom if they are acquired in pursuance of a transaction which involves their removal to the United Kingdom and does not involve their removal from the United Kingdom, and (subject to the following provisions of this section) shall otherwise be treated as acquired outside the United Kingdom.

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, the goods shall be treated as acquired in the United Kingdom if they are acquired by a person who, for the purposes of their acquisition, makes use of a number assigned to him for the purposes of VAT in the United Kingdom.

(4) Subsection (3) above shall not require any goods to be treated as acquired in the United Kingdom where it is established, in accordance with regulations made by the Commissioners for the purposes of this section that VAT—

(a) has been paid in another member State on the acquisition of those goods; and

(b) fell to be paid by virtue of provisions of the law of that member State corresponding, in relation to that member State, to the provision made by subsection (2) above.

(5) The Commissioners may by regulations make provision for the purposes of this section—

(a) for the circumstances in which a person is to be treated as having been assigned a number for the purposes of VAT in the United Kingdom;

(b) for the circumstances in which a person is to be treated as having made use of such a number for the purposes of the acquisition of any goods; and

(c) for the refund, in prescribed circumstances, of VAT paid in the United Kingdom on acquisitions of goods in relation to which the conditions specified in subsection (4)(a) and (b) above are satisfied.

14 Acquisitions from persons belonging in other member States

(1) Subject to subsection (3) below, where—

(a) a person (“the original supplier”) makes a supply of goods to a person who belongs in another member State (“the intermediate supplier”);

(b) that supply involves the removal of the goods from another member State and their removal to the United Kingdom but does not involve the removal of the goods from the United Kingdom;

(c) both that supply and the removal of the goods to the United Kingdom are for the purposes of the making of a supply by the intermediate supplier to another person (“the customer”) who is registered under this Act;

(d) neither of those supplies involves the removal of the goods from a member State in which the intermediate supplier is taxable at the time of the removal without also involving the previous removal of the goods to that member State; and

(e) there would be a taxable acquisition by the customer if the supply to him involved the removal of goods from another member State to the United Kingdom,

the supply by the original supplier to the intermediate supplier shall be disregarded for the purposes of this Act and the supply by the intermediate supplier to the customer shall be treated for the purposes of this Act, other than Schedule 3, as if it did involve the removal of the goods from another member State to the United Kingdom.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, where—

(a) a person belonging in another member State makes such a supply of goods to a person who is registered under this Act as involves their installation or assembly at a place in the United Kingdom to which they are removed; and

(b) there would be a taxable acquisition by the registered person if that supply were treated as not being a taxable supply but as involving the removal of the goods from another member State to the United Kingdom,

that supply shall be so treated except for the purposes of Schedule 3.

(3) Neither subsection (1) nor subsection (2) above shall apply in relation to any supply unless the intermediate supplier or, as the case may be, the person making the supply complies with such requirements as to the furnishing (whether before or after the supply is made) of invoices and other documents, and of information, to—

(a) the Commissioners, and

(b) the person supplied,

as the Commissioners may by regulations prescribe; and regulations under this subsection may provide for the times at which, and the form and manner in which, any document or information is to be furnished and for the particulars which it is to contain.

(4) Where this section has the effect of treating a taxable acquisition as having been made, section 12(1) shall apply in relation to that acquisition with the omission of the words from “whichever” to “acquisition; and” at the end of paragraph (a).

(5) For the purposes of this section a person belongs in another member State if—

(a) he does not have any business establishment or other fixed establishment in the United Kingdom and does not have his usual place of residence in the United Kingdom;

(b) he is neither registered under this Act nor required to be so registered;

(c) he does not have a VAT representative and is not for the time being required to appoint one; and

(d) he is taxable in another member State;

but, in determining for the purposes of paragraph (b) above whether a person is required to be registered under this Act, there shall be disregarded any supplies which, if he did belong in another member State and complied with the requirements prescribed under subsection (3) above, would fall to be disregarded by virtue of this section.

(6) Without prejudice to section 13(4), where—

(a) any goods are acquired from another member State in a case which corresponds, in relation to another member State, to the case specified in relation to the United Kingdom in subsection (1) above; and

(b) the person who acquires the goods is registered under this Act and would be the intermediate supplier in relation to that corresponding case,

the supply to him of those goods and the supply by him of those goods to the person who would be the customer in that corresponding case shall both be disregarded for the purposes of this Act, other than the purposes of the information provisions referred to in section 92(7).

(7) References in this section to a person being taxable in another member State shall not include references to a person who is so taxable by virtue only of provisions of the law of another member State corresponding to the provisions of this Act by virtue of which a person who is not registered under this Act is a taxable person if he is required to be so registered.

(8) This section does not apply in relation to any supply of goods by an intermediate supplier to whom the goods were supplied before 1st August 1993.