VSME25150 - Visits to INTRASTAT traders not identified as supplementary declarants: Audit action

The officer visiting non-supplementary declarants (SD) for VAT should be aware of the needto check the INTRASTAT status of the trader. Substantial time should not be spent onverifying the box 8 and 9 declarations unless it is likely that the declarations beingmade or not made, affect the SD status of the trader. Traders may be unaware of therequirement to complete boxes 8 and 9, or be incorrectly entering services.

Although the scrutiny of Boxes 8 and 9 is a useful credibility tool, they are thereprimarily to provide intra-EU trade figures and to allow SATU to identify potentialsupplementary declarants. Even if they are entered correctly, differences can arisebetween Boxes 8 and 9 SDs and the value of EU trade on VAT invoices. SDs show where thegoods are physically moved from/to and when, as distinct from who was invoiced andregardless of tax points.

For example, a sales invoice may be issued to a customer in France in January, but thegoods may actually be delivered direct to the customer’s site in Germany in February.Also, Boxes 8 and 9 should not include values of returned/replacement goods or goods forprocess/repair, while these should be shown on SDs.

If intra EC trade is incorrectly declared, the officer is to correct the position using aVAT 479 in the following circumstances;

  • the error is more than £15,000 for a month and the transaction occurred less than 12 months previously;
  • when the error places the trader over the threshold for the previous statistical year; and
  • where there is a significant statistical error, i.e. exceeding £50,000, which is likely to lead to a trader being wrongly allocated above or below the threshold at the end of the current statistical year.

NOTE: That a statistical year for threshold purposes is defined as a calendar year,i.e. ending 31 December.