CHAPTER 4U.K.Accounting
Section 1U.K.Definition
Article 241U.K.
For the purposes of this Chapter, ‘storage of an invoice by electronic means’ shall mean storage of data using electronic equipment for processing (including digital compression) and storage, and employing wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic means.
Section 2U.K.General obligations
Article 242U.K.
Every taxable person shall keep accounts in sufficient detail for VAT to be applied and its application checked by the tax authorities.
[F1Article 243 U.K.
1. Every taxable person shall keep a register of the goods dispatched or transported by him, or on his behalf, to a destination outside the territory of the Member State of departure but within the Community for the purposes of transactions consisting in valuations of those goods or work on them or their temporary use as referred to in points (f), (g) and (h) of Article 17(2).
2. Every taxable person shall keep accounts in sufficient detail to enable the identification of goods dispatched to him from another Member State, by or on behalf of a taxable person identified for VAT purposes in that other Member State, and used for services consisting in valuations of those goods or work on those goods.
[F23. Every taxable person who transfers goods under the call-off stock arrangements referred to in Article 17a shall keep a register that permits the tax authorities to verify the correct application of that Article.
Every taxable person to whom goods are supplied under the call-off stock arrangements referred to in Article 17a shall keep a register of those goods.] ]
Textual Amendments
Section 3U.K.Specific obligations relating to the storage of all invoices
Article 244U.K.
Every taxable person shall ensure that copies of the invoices issued by himself, or by his customer or, in his name and on his behalf, by a third party, and all the invoices which he has received, are stored.
Article 245U.K.
1.For the purposes of this Directive, the taxable person may decide the place of storage of all invoices provided that he makes the invoices or information stored in accordance with Article 244 available to the competent authorities without undue delay whenever they so request.
2.Member States may require taxable persons established in their territory to notify them of the place of storage, if it is outside their territory.
Member States may also require taxable persons established in their territory to store within that territory invoices issued by themselves or by their customers or, in their name and on their behalf, by a third party, as well as all the invoices that they have received, when the storage is not by electronic means guaranteeing full on-line access to the data concerned.
F3Article 246U.K.
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Textual Amendments
Article 247U.K.
1.Each Member State shall determine the period throughout which taxable persons must ensure the storage of invoices relating to the supply of goods or services in its territory and invoices received by taxable persons established in its territory.
[F12. In order to ensure that the requirements laid down in Article 233 are met, the Member State referred to in paragraph 1 may require that invoices be stored in the original form in which they were sent or made available, whether paper or electronic. Additionally, in the case of invoices stored by electronic means, the Member State may require that the data guaranteeing the authenticity of the origin of the invoices and the integrity of their content, as provided for in Article 233, also be stored by electronic means.
3. The Member State referred to in paragraph 1 may lay down specific conditions prohibiting or restricting the storage of invoices in a country with which no legal instrument exists relating to mutual assistance similar in scope to that provided for in Directive 2010/24/EU and Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 or to the right referred to in Article 249 to access by electronic means, to download and to use.]
Textual Amendments
Article 248U.K.
Member States may, subject to conditions which they lay down, require the storage of invoices received by non-taxable persons.
Section 4U.K.Right of access to invoices stored by electronic means in another Member State
[F4Article 248a U.K.
For control purposes, and as regards invoices in respect of supplies of goods or services supplied in their territory and invoices received by taxable persons established in their territory, Member States may, for certain taxable persons or certain cases, require translation into their official languages. Member States may, however, not impose a general requirement that invoices be translated.]
Textual Amendments
[F1Article 249 U.K.
For control purposes, where a taxable person stores, by electronic means guaranteeing online access to the data concerned, invoices which he issues or receives, the competent authorities of the Member State in which he is established and, where the VAT is due in another Member State, the competent authorities of that Member State, shall have the right to access, download and use those invoices.]