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V4.311 Zero-rating goods supplied to EU taxable persons (before 1 January 2021)

With the introduction of the Single Market and the removal of frontier barriers from 1 January 1993, the concepts of 'imports' and 'exports' between EU member states were replaced with 'acquisitions' and supplies involving the removal of goods from the UK to an EU member state, referred to as 'despatches'. However, from the end of the Brexit implementation period (11pm on 31 December 2020), goods moving between Great Britain and the EU member states once again became imports and exports with the concepts of acquisitions and despatches (broadly) being abolished in UK VAT law¹.

The concepts, do, however, remain relevant to Northern Ireland where acquisitions and despatches were not abolished² owing to its special status under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol. For details of the rules insofar as they relate to Northern Ireland, see V3.302.

This paragraph examines the scope of zero-rating for intra-EU supplies which applied across the