Explanatory note

These Regulations, which come into force on 1st April 2008, amend the Value Added Tax Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/2518) (“the principal Regulations”).

Regulation 2 introduces a new part, 4B, into the principal Regulations. This part contains new regulations 23E and 23F. These require a taxable person who is responsible for providing information in relation to arrivals and dispatches of goods between Member States for the purposes of Intrastat to provide that information to the Commissioners for the purposes of Value Added Tax on the same occasion and using the same form as is used for the provision of that information for Intrastat purposes.

Intrastat is the regime established for the purpose of collecting Community statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States pursuant to the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) 638/2004 and Commission Regulation (EC) 1982/2004 and implemented in the United Kingdom by the Statistics of Trade (Customs and Excise) Regulations (S.I.1992/2790). Intrastat requires persons with an annual value of intra-Community trade above a specified figure (currently £260,000) to provide certain information relating to the arrivals and dispatches of goods in which they are concerned. The information is provided on a monthly basis to the Commissioners in their capacity as the national authority responsible for the collection of the information required by the regime and its provision to the Commission.