Chain transactions
New Value-Added Tax (VAT) rules were introduced on chain transactions from 1 January 2020. These rules help traders decide how to assign the intra-Community transport of goods in certain cross border supply chains.
A chain transaction is a series of successive supplies of the same goods between multiple suppliers. However, this transaction involves only one intra-Community transport of those goods.
The rules only apply in certain circumstances where the goods have been:
- transported from one European Union (EU) Member State to another EU Member State
- directly transported from the first supplier to the last customer in the chain
- transported by the intermediary operator or by a third party on behalf of the intermediary.
Further guidance contains more detailed information on the VAT treatment of the chain transaction rules.