S.I. No. 345/1993:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (VALUE-ADDED TAX) REGULATIONS, 1993.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (VALUE-ADDED TAX) REGULATIONS, 1993.

WHEREAS the Sixth Council Directive of 17 May, 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes -- Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (Council Directive No. 77/388/EEC)¹, as last amended by Council Directive No. 92/111/EEC of 14 December, 1992^2, establishes rules as to when value added tax becomes chargeable on supplies of goods, supplies of services and intra-Community acquisitions of goods;

AND WHEREAS paragraph 5 of Article 22 of Council Directive No. 77/388/EEC permits Member States to require of taxable persons an interim payment of value added tax;

AND WHEREAS, in its judgment of 20 October, 1993 in Case C-10/92 Maurizio Balocchi v Ministero delle Finanze dello Stato, the Court of Justice of the European Communities held that, while interim payments were permissible, they could not be used to require a taxable person to make payment where the value added tax had not become chargeable;

NOW, I, BERTIE AHERN, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving further effect to Council Directive No. 77/388/EEC of 17 May, 1977, as last amended by Council Directive No. 92/111/EEC of 14 December, 1992, hereby make the following Regulations:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Value-Added Tax) Regulations, 1993.

(2) These Regulations shall be construed together with the Value-Added Tax Acts 1972 to 1993.

2. In these Regulations--

¹O.J. No. L145, 13 June 1977, p.1.

²O.J. No. L384, 30 December 1992, p.47.

"advance payment" means the advance payment referred to in section 19 (6) of the Principal Act;

"due date" means the due date referred to in section 19 (6) of the Principal Act;

"November liability" means--

( a ) the amount of tax which would be payable in accordance with section 19 (3) of the Principal Act, or

( b ) nil, where an amount of tax would be repayable in accordance with section 20 (1) of the Principal Act,

if the November period were to be treated as a taxable period;

"November period" means the month of November immediately preceding a due date;

"the Principal Act" means the Value-added Tax Act, 1972 .

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 19 (6) of the Principal Act, for the purposes of the application of the said section 19 (6) and of these Regulations, all references in the said section 19 (6) to the 1st day of December shall be construed as references to the 10th day of December.

4. Subject to his complying with Regulation 5, a taxable person who is liable to pay an advance payment in accordance with section 19 (6) of the Principal Act may opt, as an alternative, to pay his November liability and in such circumstances all the provisions of the said section 19 (6) shall apply to the November liability as if it were the advance payment.

5. Where a taxable person desires to avail of the option provided for in Regulation 4, he shall, by the due date, notify the Collector-General accordingly in writing and declare his November liability to the Collector-General in writing.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 24th day of November, 1993.

BERTIE AHERN,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

Section 19 (6) of the VAT Act, as modified by S.I. No. 303 of 1993 , requires that an advance payment of VAT be made in December 1993, and in December in subsequent years, by any taxable person whose total net annual VAT liability exceeds a threshold of £300,000 in the 12 months ending in the preceding June.

These Regulations provide that the taxable persons concerned may opt to make the advance payment on the basis of their actual November liability rather than on the basis provided for in the Act (i.e. one-twelfth of their total net VAT for the relevant year).