VWRHS4100 - Fiscal warehouses: Supplies of goods within the regime

Supplies of goods within fiscal warehouses are governed by the VAT Act 1994 Section 18B.

18B - Subsections (3) and (4) below apply where-

(a) there is an acquisition of goods from another member State;

(b) those goods are eligible goods;

(c) either-

(i) the acquisition takes place while the goods are subject to a fiscal warehousing regime; or

(ii) after the acquisition but before the supply, if any, of those goods which next occurs, the acquirer causes the goods to be placed in a fiscal warehousing regime; and

(d) the acquirer, not later that the time of the acquisition, prepares and keeps a certificate that the goods are subject to a fiscal warehousing regime, or (as the case may be) that he will cause paragraph (c)(ii) above to be satisfied; and the certificate shall be in such form and be kept for such period as the Commissioners may by regulations specify.

(2) Subsections (3) and (4) below also apply where-

(a) there is a supply of goods;

(b) those goods are eligible goods;

(c) either-

(i) that supply takes place while the goods are subject to a fiscal warehousing regime; or

(ii) after that supply but before the supply, if any, of those goods which next occurs, the person to whom the former supply is made causes the goods to be placed in a fiscal warehousing regime;

(d) in a case falling within (c)(ii) above, the person to whom the supply is made gives the supplier, not later than the time of the supply, a certificate in such form as the Commissioners may by regulations specify that he will cause paragraph (c)(ii) to be satisfied; and

(e) the supply is not a retail transaction.

(3) The acquisition or supply in question shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as taking place outside the United Kingdom if any subsequent supply of those goods is while they are subject to the fiscal warehouse regime.

(4) Where subsection (3) does not apply and the acquisition or supply in question falls, for the purposes of this Act, to be treated as taking place in the United Kingdom, that acquisition or supply shall be treated for the purposes of the Act as taking place when the goods are removed from the fiscal warehousing regime.

Goods supplied while being entered to the regime are treated as though they are outside the UK and therefore are not subject to VAT unless the supply is the final one in warehouse.

In most cases the supplier of the goods will not know whether his is the final supply in warehouse, nor may the recipient at the time the goods are traded. For this reason, the goods are taxed at the time they are removed, and the base value of the goods is the value of the final supply, plus the value of any relieved services performed after that supply but whilst the goods were still fiscally warehoused.