Stricter regulations for intra-Community transfers
What is an intra-Community transfer (igV)?
An intra-Community transfer (igV) occurs when an item (goods) is transferred from Germany to another Community territory. This includes, for example, the transfer of goods from an Amazon warehouse in Germany to an Amazon warehouse in Poland.
What has changed since January 1, 2020?
Since 01.01.2020, the regulations regarding tax exemption in connection with intra-Community transfers have been tightened. Accordingly, the tax exemption is only granted if the business has fulfilled its obligation to submit the recapitulative statement in accordance with Section 18a UstG. Even if the company has fulfilled its obligation but has submitted an incorrect or incomplete recapitulative statement, the tax exemption in connection with the intra-Community transfer can be denied.
Furthermore, a prerequisite for tax exemption is the timely submission of the recapitulative statement. If an incorrect recapitulative statement is submitted, it must be corrected in the period that would actually have been correct.
These regulations also apply to intra-Community transfers, as these are treated in the same way as intra-Community transfers in accordance with Section 6a (2) UstG. An intra-Community transfer occurs when an item (goods) is transferred from Germany to the rest of the Community. This includes, for example, stock transfers of goods from Amazon from Germany to Poland or from Germany to the rest of the Community.
The tax return can only be submitted on time if the recapitulative statement is submitted by the 25th day of the following month at the latest. According to the above information, late submission of the recapitulative statement leads to tax liability!
The regulations that we have described above apply to companies that carry out intra-Community supplies or intra-Community transfers of goods from Germany to the rest of the Community.
- Example: You carry out an intra-Community transfer if you transfer your own goods from Germany to one of your warehouses in e.g. Italy. Date of the transfer: 06.01.2021
Consequence of this: In this situation, you are obliged to submit a recapitulative statement by 25.02.2021 at the latest.
Our tax consultants support you
We will be happy to support you in compiling and submitting the recapitulative statement. For this purpose, we require all documents for the accounting of a month as soon as possible after the month has expired, regardless of whether you have a permanent extension for the advance VAT return at the tax office or not. The permanent extension allows you to submit your VAT return on the 10th of the following month, which means that you have already missed the deadline for submitting the VAT return by the 25th of the following month. We consider the 3rd day of the following month at the latest to be a timely submission of the documents. As the regulation only applies to outgoing invoices, we consider this deadline to be completely sufficient.
- You are obliged to submit to us all outgoing invoices that you have issued for the services performed in the relevant period. In this respect, we emphasize the following once again:
An iGV is deemed to have been carried out with the movement of goods from Germany. If you have started a movement of goods from Germany to Poland on 22.01.2021, you must issue a document for this movement of goods, usually a pro forma invoice, so that this transaction can be recorded in the accounts. This pro forma invoice belongs in January 2021 and must be reported in the recapitulative statement by 25.02.2021 at the latest so that the tax exemption is not jeopardized. However, the period in which you received the money for your service is irrelevant.
We would like to ask you to contact us if, for example, you trade via Amazon and the goods are transferred from Amazon to various warehouses (EU countries), then you are a company that carries out an intra-Community transfer and this transfer must be reported in the recapitulative statement.
