Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 9A

Reverse charge on gas, electricity, heat or cooling

Section 9A requires a VAT-registered business that receives supplies of gas, electricity, heat or cooling from an overseas supplier, or in certain cross-border situations between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to account for the VAT itself under a reverse charge mechanism.

• When a supplier outside the UK provides gas, electricity, heat or cooling to a UK VAT-registered business for business purposes, the recipient must account for VAT as if it had made the supply itself
• A similar reverse charge applies in cross-border GB/Northern Ireland scenarios — for example, where a GB supplier provides these goods to a recipient who is VAT-registered and also VAT-identified in Northern Ireland, or where a Northern Ireland supplier provides them to a recipient who is VAT-registered but not VAT-identified in Northern Ireland
• The deemed self-supply is treated as a taxable supply, meaning output tax must be accounted for, but it does not count as a supply made by the recipient when calculating input tax recovery under the partial exemption rules in section 26
• The relevant goods covered are natural gas supplied through pipeline systems in Great Britain, Northern Ireland or EU member states (or connected networks), electricity, and heat or cooling supplied through a network

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