Value Added Tax Act 1994 Schedule 4B

Call-off stock arrangements

Schedule 4B sets out simplified VAT rules for call-off stock arrangements, where a supplier in one country sends goods to a warehouse or premises in the UK for a known customer to draw upon as needed, without triggering an immediate deemed supply at the point of arrival.

• Call-off stock is a simplification that allows a supplier to send goods to the UK for a specific known customer, deferring the point of supply until the customer actually takes ownership of the goods, rather than treating arrival in the UK as a taxable event.
• The arrangement requires certain conditions to be met, including that the customer is identified in advance, that the goods are intended to be supplied to that customer, and that the supplier is not established or required to be VAT-registered in the UK.
• Where goods are not taken up by the intended customer within a specified period, or the conditions of the arrangement cease to be met, the simplification falls away and normal VAT rules apply — potentially creating a deemed supply and acquisition at that point.
• Following the UK's departure from the EU, the scope of call-off stock arrangements was amended by the Taxation (Post-transition Period) Act 2020, adjusting how these rules operate in relation to movements of goods between the UK and other territories after the end of the transition period.

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