Value Added Tax Act 1994

21 Value of imported goods. U.K.

(1) For the purposes of this Act, the value of goods imported from a place outside the member States shall (subject to subsections (2) [F1 to (4)] below) be determined according to the rules applicable in the case of Community customs duties, whether or not the goods in question are subject to any such duties.

(2) For the purposes of this Act the value of any goods imported from a place outside the member States shall be taken to include the following so far as they are not already included in that value in accordance with the rules mentioned in subsection (1) above, that is to say—

(a) all taxes, duties and other charges levied either outside or, by reason of importation, within the United Kingdom (except VAT); F2 . . .

[F3 (b) all incidental expenses, such as commission, packing, transport and insurance costs, up to the goods’ first destination in the United Kingdom; and

(c) if at the time of the importation of the goods from a place outside the member States a further destination for the goods is known, and that destination is within the United Kingdom or another member State, all such incidental expenses in so far as they result from the transport of the goods to that other destination;

and in this subsection “the goods’ first destination” means the place mentioned on the consignment note or any other document by means of which the goods are imported into the United Kingdom, or in the absence of such documentation it means the place of the first transfer of cargo in the United Kingdom.]

(3) Subject to subsection (2) above, where—

(a) goods are imported from a place outside the member States for a consideration which is or includes a price in money payable as on the transfer of property;

(b) the terms on which those goods are so imported allow a discount for prompt payment of that price;

(c) those terms do not include provision for payment of that price by instalments; and

(d) payment of that price is made in accordance with those terms so that the discount falls to be allowed,

the value of the goods shall be taken for the purposes of this Act to be reduced by the amount of the discount.

[F4 (4) For the purposes of this Act, the value of any goods falling within subsection (5) below which are imported from a place outside the member States shall be taken to be an amount equal to 14.29 per cent. of the amount which, apart from this subsection, would be their value for those purposes.

(5) The goods which fall within this subsection are—

(a) any work of art which was obtained by any person before 1st April 1973 otherwise than by his producing it himself or by succession on the death of the person who produced it;

(b) any work of art which was—

(i) exported from the United Kingdom before 1st April 1973,

(ii) exported from the United Kingdom on or after that date and before 1st January 1993 by a person who, had he supplied it in the United Kingdom at the date when it was exported, would not have had to account for VAT on the full value of the supply, or

(iii) exported from the United Kingdom on or after 1st January 1993 by such a person to a place which, at the time, was outside the member States,

being, in each case, a work of art which has not been imported between the time when it was exported and the importation in question;

(c) any antique more than one hundred years old, being neither a work of art nor pearls or loose gem stones; and

(d) collectors’ pieces of zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical, archaeological, paleontological or ethnographic interest.

(6) In this section “work of art” means goods falling within any of the following descriptions, that is to say—

(a) paintings, drawings and pastels executed by hand but not comprised in manufactured articles that have been hand-painted or hand-decorated;

(b) original engravings, lithographs and other prints;

(c) original sculptures and statuary, in any material.

(7) An order under section 2(2) may contain provision making such alteration of the percentage for the time being specified in subsection (4) above as the Treasury consider appropriate in consequence of any increase or decrease by that order of the rate of VAT.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 21(1) substituted (1.5.1995 with effect as mentioned in s. 22(2) of the amending Act) by 1995 c. 4, s. 22(1)

F2 Word in s. 21(2)(a) repealed (29.4.1996 with effect in relation to goods imported on or after 1.1.1996) by 1996 c. 8, ss. 27(2)(4), 205, Sch. 41 Pt. IV(3) Note

F3 S. 21(2)(b)(c) substituted (29.4.1996 with effect in relation to goods imported on or after 1.1.1996) for s. 21(2)(b) by 1996 c. 8, s. 27(3)(4)

F4 S. 21(4)-(7) inserted (1.5.1995 with effect as mentioned in s. 22(2) of the amending Act) by 1995 c. 4, s. 22(1)