欧盟内货物供应

The rule: the VAT arises in the Member State of arrival; the dispatching Member State only records the transaction. Intra-EU supplies of goods follow the dispatch/arrival model. As soon as the goods arrive in the destination Member State an intra-EU acquisition takes place there: the acquirer (normally the taxable person who receives the goods) self-assesses the VAT at the rate of the Member State of arrival, declares it and deducts it, while the supplier issues a zero-rated invoice in the dispatching Member State and reports the transaction in the statistics.

This applies to goods, not to services. Cross-border services are located where the customer is established (Chapter 13); goods follow the goods. Rates at destination: DE 19%, FR 20%, BE/NL/ES 21%, EE 24%.

One point to stress: the zero rating in the dispatching Member State is not an exemption. It exists only because the supply is taxed at destination. The supplier has no input VAT to deduct at origin, because that is the treatment of exports.

What the examiner asks: a German company sends goods worth EUR 10,000 to a Dutch customer - in whose return does the tax appear? Answer: the Dutch customer self-assesses 21%, while the German company only reports the value in Intrastat.

Proof of dispatch (Art 41). To deduct the VAT it self-assessed at destination, the acquirer must show that the goods really left the dispatching Member State. Art 41 requires a transport document: the CMR consignment note for road transport, the rail waybill, the air waybill or the bill of lading; where the buyer arranges the carriage itself, a carrier's consignment note, the invoice or the payment record may serve. Member States may accept other evidence.

Time of the acquisition (Art 22). The chargeable event is in principle the moment the goods arrive at destination; for reporting the baseline is normally the 15th day of the month following the month of arrival, and Member States may apply a shorter national rule (for example, reporting in the month of arrival or in the following month).

The period follows the acquisition, not the payment date. If the invoice date and the arrival date differ, arrival governs.

What the examiner asks: arrival on 8 November, payment on 25 November, invoice dated 30 November - which period carries the VAT? Answer: the November acquisition.

Who has the transport obligation decides where the goods are taxed. This is the most frequent trap in the chapter.

Where the seller arranges transport, the supply is treated as a supply with transport: the supplier owes the tax in the country of arrival and the customer self-assesses at the destination rate. The VAT risk on the goods passes with the goods, so the seller cannot invoice and recognise the revenue before arrival.

The distance-selling threshold. Distance sales to private consumers are subject to the EUR 150 threshold of Art 48, tested per consignment: up to EUR 150 the supplier's country rate applies; above EUR 150 the rate of the country of arrival applies, reported by the supplier through OSS. Example: a Dutch webshop sends EUR 120.00 to a German private customer - Dutch 21%, i.e. EUR 25.20. Send EUR 500.00 and German 19% applies, i.e. EUR 95.00.

Exceptions to the threshold: new means of transport, electricity, gas and water, heating and cooling, BT with VAT, other excise goods, and works or movables to be installed.

What the examiner asks: does free delivery change the place of supply? Answer: no - free delivery is precisely the typical case of transport arranged by the seller.

Three contracts, three Member States, two acquisitions. A chain transaction means the same goods pass through three or more parties: supplier A sells to intermediary B, who sells on to final customer C. Each leg is a separate transaction, each subject to the reverse charge of Art 196.

Why Art 44 matters. In the extended chain, if intermediary B invoiced C (FR) in the ordinary way, B would have to register in France and pay French VAT. Art 44 lets the parties agree that B acts as the supplier to C, so C self-assesses in France while A still invoices B on a reverse-charge basis. This is the "the parties agree who acts as the supplier to the intermediary" point.

Do not assume that the intermediary is always the supplier: Art 44 has conditions, and the simplified chain and the extended chain lead to different answers.

What the examiner asks: in a chain through the Netherlands, Germany and France, which country's VAT does the intermediary charge? Answer: the one where the final customer is established.

New means of transport: the private customer also pays. Where a dealer supplies a new means of transport to a private customer in another Member State, the new-means-of-transport limb of Art 196 applies and the private customer self-assesses at its own country's rate - the margin scheme does not. Example: a German dealer sells a new car for EUR 28,000 net to a Belgian private customer, who self-assesses 28,000 x 21% = EUR 5,880.

Second-hand vehicles: only the margin is taxed. Second-hand goods fall under the trader margin scheme of Art 138(2)(a): VAT is charged on the dealer's margin only. Example: a German dealer buys a used car for EUR 20,000 from a private owner and sells it for EUR 24,000, so the VAT is 4,000 x 19% = EUR 760. The private customer neither pays nor deducts.

Call-off stock (Art 17). When the goods arrive at the warehouse in the destination country, the warehouse keeper (if a taxable person) acquires them there under the reverse charge; when the goods are later sold from the call-off stock to a local customer, that supply is exempt under Art 17.

The exemption covers the placing on the market into and out of the call-off stock; it does not cover the acquisition on arrival in the destination Member State.

What the examiner asks: how do new and second-hand cars differ? Answer: the new car is taxed on its full value in the customer's country, the second-hand car only on the margin.

There are two layers of reporting. The VAT return (who pays the tax where) and the intra-EU trade statistics (who reports which value) are separate: the first is taxation, the second statistics. Intrastat covers the value of goods dispatched to and arriving from other Member States above the thresholds; the EC Sales List covers intra-EU B2B sales, never B2C.

Intrastat thresholds (since 2022). Since 1 January 2022 there is no threshold for dispatches to countries outside the EU (all must be reported); intra-EU dispatches below EUR 1 800 per consignment may be left out; and a consignee that received EUR 100 000 or more in the previous year, or 4% or more of all its intra-EU acquisitions, must report every acquisition. Example: EUR 95,000 out of EUR 2,400,000 is 3.96%, below both the EUR 100,000 and the 4% test, so no obligation to report all acquisitions is triggered.

VERIFY: the filing deadlines (monthly: normally the 10th working day after the reference period; annual recapitulative statement: 30 April) and the national transitional rules must be checked against Regulation (EU) 2019/2152; the EU has agreed in principle on replacing the EC Sales List with a VIES-based declaration - VERIFY its entry into force and the national form names.

The forms in the six countries.

What the examiner asks: what does the supplier report at origin? Answer: the net value, with the destination country code and the customer's VAT number.

Private customers acquiring goods: in principle no VAT. Where a private customer who is not registered for VAT acquires goods in another Member State for non-business use, the intra-EU acquisition does not in principle give rise to VAT (the special rule for final consumers). New means of transport are the exception: a private customer acquiring a new vehicle still pays the VAT of the Member State in which the goods arrive.

VERIFY: the reference card links this rule to Art 22(3)(a), while Art 22 in the card deals with the time of supply; the article number for the exemption of acquisitions by final consumers must be checked against the official consolidated text before it is quoted in an exam answer. In an exam, state the rule first and the article second.

The document flow, from seller to tax office.

Both the supplier's VAT number and the customer's VAT number must appear on the invoice. A cross-border invoice without the counterpart's VAT number cannot support a deduction, and it will also be questioned in the supplier's own statistics filing.

What the examiner asks: which two VAT-related items must a cross-border goods invoice always carry? Answer: the supplier's VAT number and the customer's VAT number.