Table of Contents. Part 1 General Section

Transcription

1 About the Editor Foreword v XV Part 1 General Section About this Guide 1-3 Background to the VAT in Europe 2-1 A. Principles of the VAT 2-2 B. VAT in the European Community 2-4 C. The European Union and Its VAT System (Post-1993) 2-5 VAT Treatment of Transactions 3-1 A. Define Your Transactions to Determine Your VAT Compliance Needs 3-2 B. Typical Transactions and Their VAT Treatment 3-4 C. Supply of Goods: Overview 3-5 D. Supply of Goods: Domestic Supply 3-6 E. Supply of Goods: 3-9 F. Supply of Goods: Supply 3-10 G. Purchase of Goods: Domestic Purchase 3-12 H. Purchase of Goods: Imports 3-13 I. Purchase of Goods: Intra-Community Acquisition of Goods 3-14 J. Supply and Purchase of Services 3-15 K. Supply and Purchase of Services: Exceptions B2C and B2B 3-17 L. Supply and Purchase of Services: Exceptions B2C only 3-19 VAT Rates in the EU 4-1 A. VAT Rates in the EU: An Overview 4-2 B. Table: List of VAT Rates Applied in the Member States 4-3 Specialized Areas in Cross-Border Trade 5-1 A. Registration Needs for Distance Sales 5-2 B. Registration Needs for Supply with Assembly 5-5 C. Avoiding Registrations for Occasional Transactions and Low Volumes 5-6 D. Avoiding Registrations through Triangulation Simplification 5-7 E. Avoiding Registrations through Consignment or Call-Off Stock Simplification 5-9 F. Avoiding Registrations through Registers of Temporary Movements: Introduction 5-12 Quick reference to European VAT compliance 2013 VII digitalisiert durch: IDS Luzern

2 G. Avoiding Registrations through Registers of Temporary Movements: Movements That Can Be Recorded through These Registers 5-13 H. Avoiding Registrations through Registers of Temporary Movements: Example of Entries in Register of Temporary Movements 5-14 The System of VAT Registration 6-1 A. European VAT Reporting through Multiple VAT Registrations 6-3 B. The Purpose of a VAT Registration 6-5 C. VAT Number Format and Best Practices in Validity Checks 6-6 D. One Stop Shop VAT Registration for Radio and Television Broadcasting Services and Certain Electronically Supplied Services: B2C 6-9 E. Registration as a Locally Established Company versus as a Non-established Company 6-11 F. Locally Established Subsidiaries and Traders 6-12 G. Non-established Companies 6-13 H. Is a Local Presence or Branch Office Needed to Register a Non-established Company? 6-14 I. Does the VAT Registration of a Non-established Company Entail Any Local Corporate Taxation Consequences? 6-15 J. Should One Appoint a Fiscal Representative to Register a Non-established Company? 6-16 K. Who Acts as Fiscal Representative? 6-20 L. Are the VAT Accounting Requirements of a Non-established Company Comparable to Those of Local Companies? 6-21 M. How Does a Company Register for the VAT? 6-22 N. How Long Does a VAT Registration Take? 6-25 VAT Registration: Special Areas of Concern 7-1 A. VAT Grouping 7-2 B. How Does the VAT Group Report? 7-3 C. Can Non-resident Companies Be Members of a VAT Group? 7-4 D. Collective VAT Numbers 7-5 E. Bonded Warehouses and VAT Warehouses 7-6 VAT Accounting Obligations 8-1 A. Basic Accounting Obligations 8-2 VAT Invoicing Requirements 9-1 A. The Importance of Invoices 9-2 B. Who Is Obliged to Invoice? 9-4 C. Self-Billing and Outsourcing of Invoicing 9-5 D. Mandatory Invoice Requirements 9-6 E VIII

3 10 Recordkeeping Requirements 10-1 A. Books and Records to Keep 10-2 B. Retention Periods and Storage Location Periodic VAT Reporting Obligations A. An Overview of the Periodical Returns 11-2 B. What Is Declared in the VAT Return? C. The Periods and the Submission Deadlines 11-4 D. Paper versus Electronic Returns 11-6 E. Nil Returns 11-7 F. Corrections in the VAT Returns G. VAT Payments H. Table: Local Bank Account Requirements for VAT Payments by Non-established Companies I. VAT Refunds J. Table: Local Bank Account Requirements for VAT Refunds K. Cash Flow Improving Licenses and Regimes L. European Sales Lists M. European Purchase Lists N. Summarizing Annual Returns Annual Sales (and Purchases) Lists Periodic Intrastat Declarations 12-1 A. What Is Intrastat? 12-2 B. Why Is Information about Trade among EU Member States Needed? 12-3 C. Goods Movement Reported in Intrastat 12-4 D. Intrastat Exclusions 12-5 E. Countries of Reporting, Traders Concerned and Threshold 12-7 F. Intrastat Periods and Submission Deadlines 12-9 G. Paper Intrastat Returns H. Electronic Intrastat Returns The IDEP/CN8 Software Package J. Links between the Intrastat and the VAT System K. Overview of the Data Elements in Intrastat L. Period of Reporting M. Corrections N. Nil Returns Penalties for Not Respecting the Intrastat Obligation VAT Audits 13-1 A. What Is a VAT Audit? 13-2 B. How Are Companies Selected for Audit? 13-3 C. Screening Tax Returns 13-4 D. Projects on Business Sectors 13-5 Requests for VAT Refunds 13-6 IX

4 F. Random Selection 13-7 G. What Form Will the Audit Take? 13-8 H. Main Points of Attention during VAT Audits 13-9 I. Completeness of the Transactions Declared J. Entitlement to the VAT Recovery Claimed K. Entitlement to the VAT Exemptions Proving VAT Exemptions for Exports and Intra-Community Supplies 14-1 A. The Importance of Storing Proof of Exports and 14-2 B. Proving Exports Electronically: The Export Control System (ECS) 14-3 C. Proving Exports with Paper Export Documents 14-5 D. Example Document: Export Document: Copy 3 of the SAD 14-7 E. Archiving of Export Declarations 14-8 F. Proving Intra-Community Supplies: Conditions for VAT Exempt G. Proving Intra-Community Supplies: Evidence of Dispatch to Another Member State H. Example Document: CMR Transport Document VAT Refunds for Non-registered Companies 15-1 A. Refund of Foreign VAT to EU Business: Directive 15-2 B. Refund of Foreign VAT to Non-EU Business: 13th Directive Claims 15-6 C. Table: Minimum Amounts of Recovery for Non-EU Businesses D. Example Document: Standard Refund Claim Form E. Example Document: Certificate of VAT Status F. Overview of the VAT Deduction Limits in the EU Member States for Non-established Companies VAT Compliance Procedures Austria AT-3 Section 1. Defining the Need to Register AT-6 Belgium BE-4

5 Bulgaria BG-4 BG-7 BG-8 Cyprus CY-4 CY-7 CY-8 Czech Republic CZ-4 Denmark DK-4 DK-8 DK-9 Estonia EE-4 EE-7 EE-8 Finland Section 1. Section 2. Section 3. Section 4. The Obligation to VAT-Register Requirements Regarding Fiscal Representatives VAT Registration and Deregistration VAT, ESL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations France FR-3 FR-8 Section 3. VAT-Registration and Deregistration FR-9 Section 4. VAT and European Sales Listing (ESL)/Intrastat (DEB) Reporting Obligations Germany DE-4 DE-8 XI

6 DE-9 Section 4. ESL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations Greece EL-4 EL-7 EL-8 Section 4. VAT, ESPL, Intrastat and ASPL Reporting Obligations Hungary Section 4. ESL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations HU-4 Iceland Ireland Italy LV-4 LV-8 LV-9 Lithuania LT-4 Section 2. Fiscal Representatives LT-9 XII

7 Luxembourg LU-4 LU-8 LU-9 Malta MT-4 MT-7 MT-8 The Netherlands NL-3 NL-8 Section 4. VAT and Intrastat Reporting Obligations Norway Section 1. Section 2. Section 3. Section 4. The Obligation to VAT-Register Requirements Regarding Fiscal Representatives VAT Registration and Deregistration VAT, ESL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations Poland PL-4 PL-9 Portugal Section 1. VAT Registration PT-4 PT-8 PT-9 Section 4. VAT, ESL, ASPL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations Romania Section 4. VAT, ESL, Intrastat and Reporting Obligations Slovakia SK-4 SK-9 XIII

8 Section 4. VAT, ESL and Intrastat Obligations Slovenia Section 1. Section 2. Section 3. Section 4. The Obligation to VAT-Register Requirements Regarding Fiscal Representatives VAT Registration and Deregistration VAT, ESL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations Spain ES-4 ES-9 Section 4. VAT, ESPL, ASPL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations Sweden SE-4 SE-8 Section 3. VAT Registration SE-9 Section 4. ESL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations Switzerland CH-3 CH-6 CH-7 Section 4. VAT and Intrastat Reporting Obligations United Kingdom UK-4 UK-9 Section 4. VAT, ESL, RCSL and Intrastat Reporting Obligations XIV