All VAT registered businesses must complete two boxes (8 and 9) on their VAT Return showing the total value of any goods supplied to other EU Member States (known as “dispatches”) and the total value of all goods acquired from other EU Member States (known as “arrivals” or “acquisitions”).
In addition to this, larger VAT registered businesses must supply further information each month on their trade in goods with other EU Member States.
If a business dispatches goods to other EU Member States or receive arrivals of goods from other Member States with a value exceeding a legally set threshold, then they must submit the additional information.
To do this they use a form known as a Supplementary Declaration (SD). The thresholds, which may differ for arrivals and dispatches, are reviewed annually, with any change normally announced towards the end of the preceding year. Changes will only apply from the beginning of a calendar year and businesses should ensure that they operate according to the threshold level currently set.
The exemption thresholds
The threshold for
Arrivals from 1 January 2010 is £600,000 The threshold for
Dispatches from 1 January 2010 is £250,000 Businesses whose trade (either Arrivals or Dispatches) exceeds the delivery terms threshold are required to provide additional delivery terms information on their SDs.
The delivery terms threshold for both Arrivals and Dispatches from 1 January 2010 is £16,000,000.
If you exceed the threshold for arrivals (of goods), but not for dispatches, delivery terms must be provided for arrivals only.
If you exceed the threshold for the dispatch (of goods), but not for arrivals, delivery terms must be provided for dispatches only.
Unlike the exemption threshold, if you reach this second threshold during the calendar year, you do not have to start submitting delivery terms data until 1 January of the next calendar year and only then if your arrivals and/or dispatches remain above the new threshold set for the following year.