VFR01000 - Introduction

Scope of this manual
Status of goods
Laws and agreements
Responsibilities

Scope of this Guidance

This book is intended to provide clear guidance to staff involved in the application of reliefs from duty and VAT on the importation, withdrawal from warehouse, acquisition or purchase in the UK of goods and services by and for the use of visiting NATO forces, NATO Headquarters and their personnel situated in the UK.

 

Sections

SectionVFR01000 explains:

  • the aims and objectives of the reliefs;
  • the role and responsibilities of the policy teams and operational teams;
  • the law relating to the reliefs.

SectionsVFR02000 through to VFR10000provides general principles and guidance for the use of control staff.

SectionVFR11000 provides guidance on control procedures and good practice.

[No exemptions under the Freedom of Information apply and may be released on request]

 

Responsibility

The VAT Policy team with overall responsibility for this guidance is:

VAT International
100 Parliament Street,
London
SW1A 2BQ

 

Scope of this Guidance

This book contains guidance for staff to implement the control philosophy and to achieve the system and control objectives.

The control philosophy is that each NATO force is responsible for administering the reliefs afforded to them and their personnel. HMRC shall in turn adopt an appropriate systems audit approach based on risk assessment.

System Objective - To facilitate the reliefs afforded to visiting NATO forces, NATO Headquarters and their personnel stationed in the UK. That is to ensure that:

  • only entitled visiting NATO forces, NATO military HQs and their entitled personnel obtain the reliefs;
  • tax and/or duty free goods are not sold, lent, hired out, given as security or transferred in the UK to non-entitled persons except under agreed official arrangements;
  • any quantitative restrictions are adhered to;
  • information on the system is complete and accurate to enable proper risk assessment

 

Status of goods

Goods admitted to visiting forces relief for official use are not considered to be in free circulation. 

Important note: This guidance does not cover returning British Forces.

 

Laws and agreements

The principal laws and international agreements covering these reliefs are:

  • Visiting Forces Act 1952

designates visiting forces who qualify for reliefs and provides legislation as required to implement the sections of NATO SOFA  relating to jurisdiction in respect of revenue and prohibition offences

  • International Headquarters and Defence Organisations Act 1968, as amended

provides the power to make orders to designate headquarters/ organisations to which visiting forces relief is applicable

  • Customs and Excise (Personal Reliefs for Special Visitors) Order 1992

provides relief for personnel from charges on importation, acquisition or removal from warehouse and purchase of EC/EFTA vehicles as well as attaching conditions to the visiting forces reliefs

  •  Agreement regarding the Status of Forces of Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO SOFA)

provides for relief from duty and VAT on goods imported or withdrawn from warehouse for the use of a visiting NATO Force, its personnel or civilian component

  • 1952 Exchange of Notes regarding Relief from Taxation of US Expenditure in The UK

provides relief for UK traders to supply goods and/or services free of duty and VAT in fulfilment of an official contract with the US Force.

This list is not exhaustive.


Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the VAT International team are to:

  • formulate UK law;
  • formulate and monitor implementation of policy in respect of UK law;
  • advise ministers, compliance officers and other government departments and organisations; and
  • liaise with other governments, visiting NATO forces and NATO Headquarters.

The responsibility of the Visiting Forces Unit of Expertise is to:

  • formulate and implement compliance policy;
  • formulate and implement compliance objectives and measures;
  • liaise with other compliance officers to agree procedures and techniques to effectively manage the relief; and
  • liaise with the VAT International policy team.

The responsibilities of compliance officers are to:

  • liaise with the Visiting Forces Unit of Expertise to agree effective compliance procedures; and
  • in conjunction with the Visiting Forces Unit of Expertise assess risk and apply control measures under systems audit procedures to meet the compliance objectives.