Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 29

Distance selling between EU and Northern Ireland: place of supply

Section 29 of Schedule 9ZB establishes where the place of supply falls for VAT purposes when goods are distance-sold between EU member states and Northern Ireland, determining whether UK VAT or the VAT of an EU member state applies.

• Goods shipped by a supplier from an EU member state to a non-taxable person in Northern Ireland are treated as supplied in the UK, provided the supplier meets certain VAT registration requirements and the goods are not new means of transport.
• Conversely, goods shipped by a supplier from Northern Ireland to an EU member state are treated as supplied outside the UK if the supplier is taxable in that member state and the member state's VAT law makes the supplier liable for VAT there.
• Where the supplier's liability in the member state depends on an opt-in election, the goods are only treated as supplied outside the UK if the supplier has notified HMRC that they wish their supplies to be treated that way.
• Transit movements — where goods leave and re-enter Northern Ireland or the UK during a journey between two points within the same territory — are disregarded and do not count as a cross-border removal.