Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 4

Time of acquisition

Section 4 of Schedule 9ZA establishes the rules for determining the point in time at which goods acquired from another member state are treated as having been acquired for VAT purposes.

• Goods acquired from a member state are treated as acquired on the earlier of two dates: the 15th day of the month following the month of the first removal of the goods, or the date a relevant invoice is issued for the transaction.
• Different rules apply where goods are acquired into warehouses under Part 4 of Schedule 9ZB, and HMRC may also prescribe alternative rules by regulations for specified cases.
• Regulations may treat a single acquisition as a series of separate acquisitions taking place at different times.
• A "relevant invoice" is an invoice of a type prescribed by HMRC regulations, and "first removal" means the initial physical movement of the goods in the course of the transaction through which they are acquired.