VATNIEU3730 - Supply and acquisition: distance selling: excise goods
There is no threshold where distance sales involve goods subject to excise duty. Such goods are always taxed in the country of destination. Consequently, an EU supplier who arranges the delivery of excise goods to a non-VAT registered customer in Northern Ireland must register for VAT in the UK. Paragraph 48(3) of schedule 9ZB provides for this:
48(3) A person who is not registered or liable to be registered as mentioned in sub-paragraph (1)(a) and (b) above becomes liable to be registered under part of this schedule if the person makes a supply that:
(a) is a supply of goods subject to a duty of excise,
(b) involves the removal of the goods to Northern Ireland by or under the directions of the person making the supply,
(c) is a transaction in pursuance of which the goods are acquired in Northern Ireland from a member state by a person who is not a taxable person,
(d) is made in the course or furtherance of a business carried on by the supplier, and
(e) is not anything which is treated as a supply for the purposes of this Act by virtue only of paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 4 or paragraph 30 of Schedule 9ZB.