VEXP50310 - Particular types of export to destinations outside the EU: Duty free and tax free shops: Evidence of export for goods supplied at duty free and tax free shops

Withdrawn 31 December 2020
Sales made under the tWithdraerms of ESC 9.1 could only be zero rated where the retailer had evidence that the goods had been sold to a passenger intending to export them directly to a destination outside the EU. Evidence logged against individual purchases consisted of a record of the flight details obtained from a boarding card or flight document. Assurance officers can compare this information against flight destination data for verification purposes.

Certain airside retailers suggested that the recording of boarding card details was too time consuming, and requested other simplified methods of evidencing sales to entitled passengers. To assist businesses, officers may agreed use of a push-button on the till to identify sales to passengers travelling to EU and non-EU destinations. This method was only allowed if the retailer understood that they must request sight of the boarding card before pressing the appropriate till button.

Proposed methods for estimating zero-rated sales on the basis of the percentage of travellers leaving for non-EU destinations were not permitted. Estimation is not acceptable because

• it does not enable the retailer to identify at the point of sale those goods sold to travellers for export outside of the EU, and
• the method does not meet the evidential requirements for individual transactions.