Reverse charge on metal products

Issuing of invoices is set to become simpler for traders of metal products. As of January 2017, metal products, the commodity codes of which are given in clause 5 of subsection 41¹(2) of the Value Added Tax Act, are subject to the national reverse charge. This includes a large number of metal products. It has become clear that there are too many products on the reverse charge list.

As a result, some metal products are to be removed. As of January 2018, metal products with the code 721691 and ventilation, aspiration, smoke and drain pipes will be exempt from the reverse charge. There have not been any registered cases of tax fraud related to these products, so they are being removed from the list to reduce the administrative burden. These products entail additional administrative burden due to the fact that pursuant to the current law, ventilation and roofing products are taxed either according to the general procedure or the special procedure, depending on the product's features and the way it is used (i.e. whether it is sold separately or as part of an assembly).

Different products can now be included in a single invoice in separate rows. According to the current Value Added Tax Act, separate invoices must be issued for goods that are subject to the reverse charge and those that are exempt from it. This was necessary in order to avoid problems with the calculation of VAT in cases where the taxable transaction had not been effected in full by the time the invoice was issued: when dealing with partial payments, it is impossible to tell whether the transaction should be taxed according to the general or special procedure.

According to the current Value Added Tax Act, separate invoices must be issued for goods that are subject to the reverse charge and those that are exempt from it. The row for goods that are subject to the reverse charge must include the note 'reverse charge'.