VATSM7300 - Record keeping, reporting and accounting: acquisition VAT

Businesses receiving intra-EC supplies of goods are required to

• maintain records of goods acquired from VAT registered suppliers and sent to them from other Member States
• hold commercial documentation such as the supplier’s invoice
• calculate the VAT due on the acquisition of these goods and enter it on the ‘tax due’ side of the VAT account, and
• include the VAT due in box 2 of VAT return for the tax period in which the acquisition occurs (see VATSM3420).

Acquisition VAT may be recovered as input tax provided it relates to goods on which VAT is normally deductible and they are acquired for business purposes. The treatment of acquisition VAT by partly exempt businesses will depend on the partial exemption method they are using.