HMRC is consulting until 23 February 2018 on transposing the new EU vouchers directive into UK law from January 2019. The new rules aim to ensure that when customers pay with gift cards and vouchers, businesses account for the same amount of VAT as when other means of payment are used. The changes do not extend to discount vouchers or money-off tokens. Draft legislation will be published in Summer 2018 and introduced in a subsequent Finance Bill.
Under current UK VAT legislation, the customer is deemed to be receiving two supplies: a voucher and an underlying supply of goods or services. The directive makes clear that for VAT purposes there will no longer be a separate supply of a voucher. Instead there is only the supply of the underlying goods or services, which will be handed over, or provided, at a later date.
HMRC is consulting until 23 February 2018 on transposing the new EU vouchers directive into UK law from January 2019. The new rules aim to ensure that when customers pay with gift cards and vouchers, businesses account for the same amount of VAT as when other means of payment are used. The changes do not extend to discount vouchers or money-off tokens. Draft legislation will be published in Summer 2018 and introduced in a subsequent Finance Bill.
Under current UK VAT legislation, the customer is deemed to be receiving two supplies: a voucher and an underlying supply of goods or services. The directive makes clear that for VAT purposes there will no longer be a separate supply of a voucher. Instead there is only the supply of the underlying goods or services, which will be handed over, or provided, at a later date.
