B2C (business-to-consumer) supplies – refers to supplies to final consumers and covers transactions listed in section 1.2 (further described in these Explanatory Notes). A consumer can also be referred to as a customer in these Explanatory Notes.
Consignment – goods packed together and dispatched simultaneously by the same supplier or underlying supplier to the same consignee and covered by the same transport contract.
Deemed supplier – is the taxable person who is deemed to receive the goods from the underlying supplier and to supply the goods to the final consumer. Thus a deemed supplier has the same rights and obligations for VAT purposes as the supplier. In the context of these Explanatory Notes the deemed supplier is the taxable person facilitating supplies through an electronic interface as laid down in Article 14a of the VAT Directive.
Distance sales of goods – refers to intra-Community distance sales of goods and distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries, which are defined in Article 14(4) of the VAT Directive.
Electronic interface – should be understood as a broad concept which allows two independent systems or a system and the end user to communicate with the help of a device or programme. An electronic interface could encompass a website, portal, gateway, marketplace, application program interface (API), etc.
When reference is made to an electronic interface, depending on the context, it can mean the electronic interface as defined above or a taxable person operating an electronic interface.
EU Member States – are the countries within the EU where these VAT rules apply. These are Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.
Excise goods – are products subject to harmonised excise duties, such as alcohol, tobacco and energy.
Fulfilment services – are services provided to suppliers of goods and consisting of storing goods in a warehouse, preparing orders and shipping the goods from the warehouse.
Intermediary – is a person established in the Community appointed by a supplier or a deemed supplier carrying out distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries as the person liable for the payment of the VAT and responsible for fulfilling the obligations laid down in the import One Stop Shop scheme.
Intrinsic value –
(a) for commercial goods: the price of the goods themselves when sold for export to the customs territory of the Union, excluding transport and insurance costs, unless they are included in the price and not indicated separately on the invoice, and excluding any other taxes and charges as ascertainable by the customs authorities from any relevant document(s);
(b) for goods of a non-commercial nature: the price which would have been paid for the goods themselves if they were sold for export to the customs territory of the Union.
Low value goods – goods in consignments whose intrinsic value at import does not exceed EUR 150 (except products subject to excise duties).
Tax representative – is a person established in the Community appointed by a supplier as the person liable for the payment of VAT and responsible for fulfilling the VAT obligations.
Special schemes – special schemes cover the non-Union scheme, the Union scheme and the import scheme.
The ‘non-Union scheme’ means the special scheme for services supplied by taxable persons not established within the Community provided for in Section 2 of Chapter 6 of Title XII of the VAT Directive;
The ‘Union scheme’ means the special scheme for intra-Community distance sales of goods, for supplies of goods within a Member State facilitated by electronic interfaces and for services supplied by taxable persons established within the Community but not in the Member State of consumption provided for in Section 3 of Chapter 6 of Title XII of the VAT Directive;
The ‘import scheme’ means the special scheme for distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries provided for in Section 4 of Chapter 6 of Title XII of the VAT Directive.
Supplier – is the taxable person selling goods or services within the EU or making distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries directly to customers where the supply was not facilitated by an electronic interface.
Taxable person not established within the Community – means a taxable person who has not established his business in the territory of the Community and who has no fixed establishment there.
Third territories and third countries – ‘third territories’ are those referred to in Article 6 of the VAT Directive and ‘third country’ means any state or territory to which the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union is not applicable (see Article 5 of the VAT Directive). Third territories listed in Article 6 are the following: Mount Athos; the Canary Islands; the French territories of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin; the Åland Islands; Campione d’Italia; the Italian waters of Lake Lugano; the Island of Heligoland; the territory of Büsingen; Ceuta; Melilla; Livigno.
Underlying supplier – is the taxable person supplying goods or making distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries through an electronic interface (see section 2.1 of chapter 2).
