Revenue Note for Guidance
This section deals with the Union scheme as it applies to taxable persons who are registered for the purposes of the Union scheme in another Member State but who are accountable persons in respect of their supplies of telecommunications, broadcasting or electronically supplied services to non-taxable persons within the State.
(1) Subsection (1) clarifies that a person who makes taxable supplies in the State and who opts to use the Union scheme in another Member State is an accountable person for the purposes of the VAT Consolidation Act 2010.
(2)(3)(4) Subsections (2), (3) and (4) provide that a person who applies the Union scheme in another Member State and who, in accordance with the provisions of the scheme in that other Member State, files a return and pays the tax due in the State, will be regarded as having fulfilled his or her obligations in relation to registration, returns and payments under the VAT Consolidation Act 2010. The returns and payments made under the provisions of the scheme will be regarded as if they were returns and payments which were required to be made under the normal return and payments provisions of the Act.
(5) Subsection (5) provides that the the conversion rate to be applied when completing the VAT return under the provisions of the Union scheme will be the rate as published by the European Central Bank for the last date of the calendar quarter, or if there is no publication on that date, the rate on the next day of publication – note that this is different to the normal conversion rules in section 37(4).
(6) Subsection (6) provides that a taxable person using the Union scheme is not entitled to deduct input VAT using the special scheme VAT return but is entitled to claim a refund from Revenue under section 101 or in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 9 if appropriate.
(7) Subsection (7) covers obligations in relation to record keeping under the Union scheme. It obliges an identified person to keep full and true records for a period of 10 years from the end of the year in which the transaction took place.
Relevant Date: Finance Act 2019