The Value Added Tax Regulations 1995

Obligation to provide a VAT invoice U.K.

13.  —

(1) Save as otherwise provided in these Regulations, where a registered person—

(a) makes a taxable supply in the United Kingdom to a taxable person, or

(b) makes a supply of goods or services F1 ... to a person in another member State [F2 for the purpose of any business activity carried out by that person], or

(c) receives a payment on account in respect of a supply he has made or intends to make from a person in another member State,

he shall provide such persons as are mentioned above with a VAT invoice [F3 (unless, in the case of that supply, he is entitled to issue and issues a VAT invoice pursuant to section 18C(1)(e) of the Act and regulation 145D(1) below in relation to the supply by him of specified services performed on or in relation to goods while those goods are subject to a fiscal or other warehousing regime)].

[F4 (1A) Paragraph (1)(b) above shall not apply where the supply is an exempt supply which is made to a person in a member State which does not require an invoice to be issued for the supply.]

[F5 (1B) Paragraph (1)(b) shall not apply in the case of a supply which falls within Group 2 or Group 5 of Schedule 9 to the Act.]

(2) The particulars of the VAT chargeable on a supply of goods described in paragraph 7 of Schedule 4 to the Act shall be provided, on a sale by auction, by the auctioneer, and, where the sale is otherwise than by auction, by the person selling the goods, on a document containing the particulars prescribed in regulation 14(1); and such a document issued to the buyer shall be treated for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a) above as a VAT invoice provided by the person by whom the goods are deemed to be supplied in accordance with the said paragraph 7.

[F6 (3) Where a registered person provides a document to himself (“a self-billed invoice”) that purports to be a VAT invoice in respect of a supply of goods or services to him by another registered person, that document shall be treated as the VAT invoice required to be provided by the supplier under paragraph (1)(a) if it complies with the conditions set out in paragraph (3A) and with any further conditions that may be contained in a notice published by the Commissioners or may be imposed in a particular case.]

[F7 (3A) The following conditions must be complied with if a self-billed invoice is to be treated as a VAT invoice—

(a) it must have been provided pursuant to a prior agreement (“a self-billing agreement”) entered into between the supplier of the goods or services to which it relates and the recipient of the goods or services (“the customer”) and which satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3B);

(b) it must contain the particulars required under regulation 14(1) or (2);

(c) it must relate to a supply or supplies made by a supplier who is a taxable person.

(3B) A self-billing agreement must—

(a) authorise the customer to produce self-billed invoices in respect of supplies made by the supplier for a specified period F8 ...

(b) specify that the supplier will not issue VAT invoices in respect of supplies covered by the agreement;

(c) specify that the supplier will accept each self-billed invoice created by the customer in respect of supplies made to him by the supplier;

(d) specify that the supplier will notify the customer if he ceases to be a taxable person or if he changes his registration number.

(3C) Without prejudice to any term of a self-billing agreement, it shall be treated as having expired when—

(a) the business of the supplier is transferred as a going concern;

(b) the business of the customer is transferred as a going concern;

(c) the supplier ceases to be registered for VAT.

(3D) In addition to the matters set out in paragraph (3B)—

(a) conditions that must be complied with may be set out in a notice published by the Commissioners;

(b) the Commissioners may impose further conditions in particular cases.

(3E) Where a customer in another member State provides a document to himself in respect of a supply of goods or services to him by a registered person, that document shall be treated as the VAT invoice required to be provided by the supplier under paragraph 1(b) or (c) if it complies with the conditions set out in paragraph (3A).

(3F) For the purposes of the following, a self-billed invoice will not be treated as issued by the supplier (however the supplier may be described in the provision concerned)—

(a) regulation 84(2)(b)(ii);

(b) regulation 85(1)(b);

(c) regulation 85(2);

(d) regulation 86(1);

(e) regulation 86(2)(b);

(f) regulation 86(3);

(g) regulation 88(1)(b);

(h) regulation 89(b)(ii);

(i) regulation 90(1)(b);

(j) regulation 90(2);

(k) regulation 91;

(l) regulation 92(b);

(m) regulation 93(1)(b);

(n) regulation 94B(6)(a).]

(4) Where the person who makes a supply to which regulation 93 relates gives an authenticated receipt containing the particulars required under regulation 14(1) to be specified in a VAT invoice in respect of that supply, that document shall be treated as the VAT invoice required to be provided under paragraph (1)(a) above on condition that no VAT invoice or similar document which was intended to be or could be construed as being a VAT invoice for the supply to which the receipt relates is issued.

(5) [F9 With the exception of the supplies referred to in paragraph (6),] the documents specified in paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (4) above shall be provided within 30 days of the time when the supply is treated as taking place under section 6 of the Act, or within such longer period as the Commissioners may allow in general or special directions.

[F10 (6) The documents specified in paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (4) shall—

(a) in the case of a supply of goods falling within section 6(7) of the Act, be provided by the 15th day of the month following that in which the removal in question takes place; and

(b) in the case of a supply of services falling within regulation 82, be provided by the 15th day of—

(i) the month following the month in which the services are treated as being performed under regulation 82(2),

(ii) the month following the month during which the services are treated as separately and successively made as a result of payments being made under regulation 82(4), or

(iii) the January following the 31st December on which the services are treated as being supplied under regulation 82(6).

(7) Both the supplier and the customer shall ensure the authenticity of the origin, the integrity of the content and the legibility of an invoice for such time as the invoice is required to be preserved.

(8) In this regulation—

(a) “authenticity of the origin” of an invoice means the assurance of either the identity of the supplier of the underlying goods or services or the issuer of that invoice;

(b) “integrity of the content” of an invoice means that the content required by regulation 14 has not been altered.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 13(1)(b) omitted (1.10.2007) by virtue of The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 5) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2085), regs. 1(2)(c), 6(a)(i)

F2 Words in reg. 13(1)(b) inserted (1.10.2007) by The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 5) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2085), regs. 1(2)(c), 6(a)(ii)

F3 Words in reg. 13(1) inserted (28.4.1996) by The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1250), regs. 1(1)(2), 6

F4 Reg. 13(1A) inserted (1.10.2007) by The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 5) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2085), regs. 1(2)(c), 6(b)

F5 Reg. 13(1B) inserted (1.1.2013) by The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2951), regs. 1, 2(3)(a)

F6 Reg. 13(3) substituted (1.1.2004) by The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 6) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/3220), regs. 1(1)(b), 4(a)

F7 Reg. 13(3A)-(3F) inserted (1.1.2004) by The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 6) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/3220), regs. 1(1)(b), 4(b)

F8 Words in reg. 13(3B)(a) omitted (1.1.2013) by virtue of The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2951), regs. 1, 2(3)(b)

F9 Words in reg. 13(5) inserted (1.1.2013) by The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2951), regs. 1, 2(3)(c)

F10 Reg. 13(6)-(8) inserted (1.1.2013) by The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2951), regs. 1, 2(3)(d)

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 13 in force at 20.10.1995, see reg. 1