The Belgian tax authorities have amended 3 Royal Decrees effective Jan 1, 2020 following the implementation of the EU VAT Quick Fixes.
Royal Decree No. 50 amended – New version of the EU Sales Listing will consist of 2 parts.
Part 1 consists of the current EU Sales Listing, that being intra-Community supplies (Code L), simplified triangulation (Code T) and intra-Community services (Code S).
Part 2 is to contain the necessary indications concerning the call-off stock arrangements (new article 12ter of the Belgian VAT Code), in particular the VAT identification number of the taxable person for whom the goods are intended, and where appropriate, the necessary adjustment regarding the return of the goods or change of the VAT identification number when replacing the recipient of the goods.
https://www.vatupdate.com/2019/12/24/vat-declaration-for-intra-community-transactions/
Royal Decrees No. 1 and 44 amended – Registers under the call-off stock arrangements and the non-proportional fines relating to the infringements of the obligation to submit the EU Sales Listing and the list of intra-Community supplies of new means of transport.
Royal Decree No. 1
| – | article 24a: the register held by the supplier of goods under the call-off stock arrangements; and |
| – | article 24b: the register held by the recipient of the goods under call-off stock arrangements. |
Royal Decree No. 44 includes separate fines for infringements of the submission of part 2 of the EU Sales List (which concerns the call-off stock arrangements).
Royal Decree No. 52 amended – Evidence of intra-Community supplies.
The exemption for intra-Community supplies must be demonstrate to the tax authorities by fulfilling all the basic conditions for the application of the VAT exemption.
The taxable person must always be in possession of all documents justifying the existence of the supply of the goods. These documents include contracts, order forms, invoices and payment documents.
In addition, the shipment or transport of the goods must be proven. The taxable person must be in possession of all documents justifying the existence of such dispatch or transport. These documents include contracts, order forms, invoices from transport companies and payment documents. This list is not complete, however, and proof of dispatch or transport of goods from Belgium to another EU Member State may be supplied by other means.
Next to these general rules, specific legal rebuttable presumptions shall be provided.
In particular, these are the two rebuttable presumptions contained in article 45a of Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 282/2011. These presumptions are to demonstrate the reality of the transport or dispatch of goods from one EU Member State to another. The contracting parties are deemed to have complied with their burden of proof if a declaration by one of the contracting parties is supported by at least two other items of non-conflicting evidence based on two different parties independent of each other and from the contracting parties. In that case, the burden of proof is reversed. The presumptions have a rebuttable character and each of the presumptions can be rebutted by the tax authorities. Moreover, these specific presumptions do not affect the possibility for EU Member States to accept other documents, or a set of corresponding documents, as evidence of the dispatch or transport of goods to an EU Member State other than the EU Member State of departure.
Amended Royal Decree No. 52 will also provide for an additional national rebuttable presumption which means that the taxable person may also provide proof of shipment or transport of goods from Belgium to another EU Member State by means of a destination document relating to those goods in combination with the invoice relating to the transport of such goods if carried out on behalf of the supplier. Also in this case, the possession of those documents makes it possible to reverse the burden of proof. The addition of this presumption is similar to the existing national administrative practice included in the Decision of 1 July 2016, No. E.T. 129.460.
