VAT Services
“Every man lives by exchanging.”
Adam Smith
Intrastat returns are mandatory in the EU. There are different thresholds per country for inbound &
outbound flows and penalties in case of non-compliance.
Intrastat returns provide EU National Customs Authorities as well as the European Commission with detailed information about the kinds and volumes of goods circulating within the European Union territory. All EU Member States impose VAT registered companies to file Intrastat declarations when they have B to B cross border transactions of goods. In case of non-submission of INTRASTAT, your company loses the right to exonerate VAT on Intracommunity transactions.
Our Services
We handle the INTRASTAT reports for our clients from A to Z. Based on your invoicing and other documentation that our clients provide us, we submit INTRASTAT reports monthly in all EU countries.
Need of assistance with your INTRASTAT?
INTRASTAT - explained in detail
Intrastat filings contain very detailed information such as the customs identification numbers of the products (HS code), quantities, weight, country of origin, VAT registration number of the seller and the recipient, address of shipment or destination, … This information must be complete as EU National Customs Authorities are entitled to audit your Intrastat declarations anytime.
Indeed, Intrastat returns are sent to a central hub in Brussels and are electronically checked. Penalties can be heavy as fines for missing or incorrect information are multiplied by the number of operations audited. In France, Intrastat returns can be inspected for over a 3 year + current year period.
Product classification
Companies that are used to import or export goods should easily know what their customs identification products codes (HS codes) are (according to the Taric Code). Their Intrastat returns will have to show the same digits.
For companies that do not know about their products codes, products will have to be classified. This may be a significant load of work especially when the number of references (SKUs) is high. All products will have to be classified one by one.
Period of submission
Intrastat declarations have to be submitted on the following month goods have been shipped or received. There is then no compulsory “nihil” Intrastat declaration to be submitted as it is the case with VAT returns. The submission deadline is around 10 days following the month (depending on the country) when the operations took place. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that information shown in your VAT returns have to match perfectly with your Intrastat returns.