HL Deb 22 June 1990 vol 520 cc1261-2WA
Lord Stoddart of Swindon

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How businesses not registered for VAT will be required to record exports, after 1992; and

How United Kingdom exports to the EC of goods not subject to VAT will be recorded after 1992.

The Earl of Caithness

All businesses will continue to complete and submit Customs documentation for their trade with countries outside the European Community as at present. Only businesses registered for VAT are expected to be required to record goods in intra-EC trade (imports and exports) to provide information to measure statistics of trade between member states.

A recent Commission proposal for a Council regulation in intra-EC trade statistics presented to the Economic and Financial Affairs Council on 11th June 1990 specifies the system to apply during a transitional period immediately after 1992 when VAT continues to be collected in the member state of destination and the final system to apply later, if and when a switch is made to VAT being collected in the member state of origin. The main features of the system for the proposed transitional period are as follows:

The smallest businesses that are not registered for VAT will have no requirement to report intra-EC trade statistics;

Small and medium businesses registered for VAT but below a threshold to be defined would not have to make any separate statistical declarations for their intra-EC trade. Instead estimates would be derived from two new boxes on their VAT returns reporting the value of goods in intra-EC trade. However, occasional sample inquiries could be conducted to collect other essential data;

Larger businesses whose intra-EC trade in goods is above this statistical threshold would have to provide additional data on their intra-EC trade in goods at least monthly. The list of data items to be reported would be much less than on current Customs' documents.

The Commission proposal still leaves some details of the transitional system to be specified in implementing Commission regulations. Principal among these is the threshold level above which detailed trade statistics will need to be submitted.