HM Revenue and Customs Brief 61/08

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Issued 31 December 2008
Intrastat - changes from 1 January 2009
This Revenue and Customs Brief explains how businesses trading with other EU
Member States could be affected by changes from 1 January 2009 and also gives
advance notification of a further change that is expected to take place from 1
January 2010.
Changes in Intrastat thresholds from 1 January 2009
The exemption threshold is increased from £260,000 to £270,000
The delivery terms threshold is increased from £14,500,000 to £16,000,000
Background
Community legislation requires the UK to collect information on intra-EU
trade in goods for statistical purposes and sets minimum requirements for the
quantity of trade covered. Currently EU Member States are required to collect
data on a minimum of 97 per cent of the value of their EU trade in goods within
the Intrastat system. These requirements determine the level at which the
exemption threshold is set in the UK. The same threshold is applied
independently to arrivals (intra-EU imports) and dispatches (intra-EU exports).
Those traders with an annual intra-EU trade in goods above the specified
exemption threshold are required to provide monthly statistical returns (Intrastat
Supplementary declarations).
Community legislation also requires the UK to collect information to enable
the accurate calculation of statistical value. This requirement determines the
level at which the delivery terms threshold is set in the UK.
Traders with an annual EU trade above the delivery terms threshold are
required to supply additional information relating to delivery terms on their
Intrastat statistical returns.
The revised thresholds are implemented by Statutory Instrument 2008/2847.
Changes for 2010
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is committed to the simplification of the
Intrastat system with the aim of reducing the burden on business while
maintaining the quality of the trade statistics provided to users.
We have been working with other Member States over the past year on a
revision to the current Community legislation that will allow us to remove some
small traders from the Intrastat system.
We expect the revised regulation to be published at the end of this year or
early in 2009 and will provide further details in due course.
Further information
Further information on trade statistics can be found online at
www.uktradeinfo.com or by phoning uktradeinfo Customer Services on 01702 367485.
About the Author
© Crown Copyright 2008.
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2009-01-02 22:50:16 in Tax Articles