Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 6

Time of supply

Section 6 establishes the rules for determining when a supply of goods or services is treated as taking place for VAT purposes — commonly known as the "tax point" — which dictates the VAT period in which the transaction must be accounted for.

• The basic tax point for goods is the time of removal, the time they are made available, or (for sale-or-return arrangements) when the supply becomes certain or 12 months after removal, whichever is sooner; for services, it is when the services are performed.
• An earlier tax point is created if a VAT invoice is issued or a payment is received before the basic tax point, to the extent of the amount invoiced or paid.
• If a VAT invoice is issued within 14 days after the basic tax point, the invoice date becomes the tax point instead, unless the supplier has opted out of this rule; HMRC can extend the 14-day window on request.
• HMRC may, at a supplier's request, issue a direction altering the tax point to an earlier or later time, and regulations can set special tax point rules for periodic payments, self-supplies, and other specified circumstances.