Finance Act 1995

22 Imported works of art, antiques, etc

(1) In subsection (1) of section 21 of the [1994 c. 23.] Value Added Tax Act 1994 (value of imported goods), for “and (3)” there shall be substituted “to (4)”; and after subsection (3) there shall be inserted the following subsections—

“(4) For the purposes of this Act, the value of any goods falling within subsection (5) below which are imported from a place outside the member States shall be taken to be an amount equal to 14.29 per cent. of the amount which, apart from this subsection, would be their value for those purposes.

(5) The goods which fall within this subsection are—

(a) any work of art which was obtained by any person before 1st April 1973 otherwise than by his producing it himself or by succession on the death of the person who produced it;

(b) any work of art which was—

(i) exported from the United Kingdom before 1st April 1973,

(ii) exported from the United Kingdom on or after that date and before 1st January 1993 by a person who, had he supplied it in the United Kingdom at the date when it was exported, would not have had to account for VAT on the full value of the supply, or

(iii) exported from the United Kingdom on or after 1st January 1993 by such a person to a place which, at the time, was outside the member States,

being, in each case, a work of art which has not been imported between the time when it was exported and the importation in question;

(c) any antique more than one hundred years old, being neither a work of art nor pearls or loose gem stones; and

(d) collectors' pieces of zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical, archaeological, paleontological or ethnographic interest.

(6) In this section “work of art” means goods falling within any of the following descriptions, that is to say—

(a) paintings, drawings and pastels executed by hand but not comprised in manufactured articles that have been hand-painted or hand-decorated;

(b) original engravings, lithographs and other prints;

(c) original sculptures and statuary, in any material.

(7) An order under section 2(2) may contain provision making such alteration of the percentage for the time being specified in subsection (4) above as the Treasury consider appropriate in consequence of any increase or decrease by that order of the rate of VAT.”

(2) This section shall have effect in relation to goods imported at any time on or after the day on which this Act is passed.