The Revenue have made the Value-Added Tax (Amendment) Regulations 2008, SI No. 238 of 2008. These regulations deal with the changes to the VAT Acts to take account of the recast of the EU Sixth Directive. The then Minister for Finance had made this announcement in Budget 2008.

According to eBrief No. 34/208, these Regulations make the following amendments to the VAT Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 548 of 2006) to:

• Update all references to taxable person and accountable person,
• Update all references to the Sixth Council Directive now replaced by the VAT Directive,
• Provide that records include cash register records for sales to unregistered persons and the details required in a capital good record,
• Provide that a document containing a schedule of dates on which rent is payable will be treated as a VAT invoice provided it contains all the information required for a VAT invoice,
• Exclude from the cash basis of accounting the tax chargeable on construction services supplied by subcontractors to principal contractors where the reverse charge applies,
• Ensure that persons who are not liable to tax under the TCA97 are still entitled to make a claim for bad debt relief in respect of VAT,
• Substitute “accounting year” for “accounting period”, and
• Align the provision with the Customs rules in relation to exempting goods which are re-imported by the person who exported them.

These Regulations also contain two new Regulations as follows:-

• Regulation 21A clarifies how a shift in an accounting year during an adjustment period in the context of the capital goods scheme should be dealt with, and
• Regulation 21B deals with the VAT treatment of the private or non-business use of business assets.

The Value-Added Tax (Amendment) Regulations 2008 came into effect on 2 July 2008.

The Regulations are reproduced at Section 2.07.