VATNIEU3325 - Supply and acquisition: acquisition: definition
The term ‘acquisition’ is defined in Article 20 of the EU Principal VAT Directive (see VATNIEU3310) and introduced into UK law by paragraph 3 of Schedule 9ZA of VATA 1994 (as amended).
3(1) References in this Act to the acquisition of goods from a member state are to an acquisition of goods in pursuance of a transaction that:
(a) is a supply of goods (including anything treated for the purposes of this Act as a supply of goods), and
(b) involves the removal of the goods from a member state (whether by or under the direction of the supplier, the person who acquires the goods or any other person), and references in this Act, in relation to such an acquisition, to the supplier are to be construed accordingly.
(2) Where the person with the property in any goods does not change in consequence of anything which is treated for the purposes of this Act as a supply of goods, that supply is to be treated for the purposes of this Act as a transaction in pursuance of which there is an acquisition by the person making the supply.
(3) The Treasury may by regulations make provision about the circumstances in which an acquisition of goods is not to be treated as an acquisition of goods from a member state.
The essential elements of an acquisition are a supply of the goods and the movement of those goods between member states.