Situation:
A Romanian company, ABC SRL, a non-VAT payer, purchases goods from Great Britain in January 2021. We specify that the goods are delivered from Germany to Romania.
The tax code is from the UK. What is the fiscal treatment of the operation? Is it considered an intra-Community import or acquisition? What are the declaratory obligations?
Solution: In the analysis of this case, it does not matter that the supplier is from Great Britain, a state that is now outside the EU, but the status of the goods.
Thus, given that the goods are already in free circulation on EU territory, the acquisition of goods transported from Germany to Romania is an intra-Community acquisition of goods, with the place of acquisition in Romania, the place where the goods are found at the end of the transport, according to art.273 paragraph (1) and art.276 paragraph (1) of the Fiscal Code.
Given that the Romanian company is not registered for VAT purposes and the value of the intra-community acquisition of goods is below the ceiling of 10,000 euros, the acquisition is not considered taxable in Romania, according to art. 268 paragraph (4) letter. a-b of the Fiscal Code.
In the situation where the acquisition of goods exceeds the ceiling of 10,000 euros, the Romanian company, as beneficiary/buyer is obliged to request special registration for VAT purposes before making the intra-community acquisition according to art. 317 paragraph (1) letter a) from the Fiscal Code, through the form 091 “Declaration of registration for VAT purposes / Declaration of mentions of other persons who make intra-community acquisitions or for services”.
We emphasize the fact that the Romanian company will not be able to pay VAT related to the intra-community acquisition of the respective goods in reverse charge (art. 326 paragraph 2) of the Fiscal Code, by highlighting the VAT due in the tax return, both as tax collected and as a deductible tax, because it is not normally registered for VAT purposes in Romania according to art. 316 of the Fiscal Code and does not submit the usual VAT return.
Therefore, ABC SRL will owe VAT as a person obliged to pay the tax according to art. 308 paragraph (1) in conjunction with art. 326 paragraph (1) of the Fiscal Code. We specify that the obligation to pay VAT will be highlighted in form 301 “Special value-added tax return” provided by art. 324 paragraph (1) letter a) of the Fiscal Code.
According to art.325 paragraph (1) letter d) of the Fiscal Code, the intra-community acquisition of goods will be declared in the form 390 VIES “Recapitulative declaration regarding the intra-community deliveries/acquisitions/services” (operation type – symbol A).
In this situation, note 1 will be taken into account in the Instructions for completing the D390 VIES form according to which for intra-community acquisitions of taxable goods in Romania, if the supplier does not communicate a valid VAT code (the UK code is no longer valid in the EU), but the goods are transported from the territory of an EU Member State (Germany in this case), the acquisition is stated in the recapitulative statement as follows:
- Column “Country” – the code of the member country from which the intra-Community delivery was made.
- Column “Intra-community operator code” – nothing will be entered.
- Column “Name / Surname, first name of the intra-community operator” – the name/surname, the first name of the supplier who issued the invoice will be entered.
If the goods are not in free circulation in the EU, they must be imported from Great Britain into the European Union.
The import formalities will be made by the purchasing company from Romania, either in Germany or in Romania, which will pay VAT for the import of the goods according to the import customs declaration.
In this case, the company not being registered for VAT purposes in Romania has no declaratory obligation.
Legal basis:
– Fiscal Code (approved by Law no. 227/2015, published in the Official Gazette no. 688 of 10.09.2015), with subsequent amendments and completions;
– Fiscal Procedure Code (approved by Law no. 207/2015, published in the Official Gazette no. 547 of 23.07.2015), with subsequent amendments and completions;
– Methodological Norms for the application of the Fiscal Code (approved by HG no. 1/2016).