The Value Added Tax (Small Non-Commercial Consignments) Relief (Amendment) Order 2015

Made: 10th December 2015

Laid before the House of Commons: 11th December 2015

Coming into force: 1st January 2016

It appears to the Treasury that it is expedient to make this Order having regard to the need to comply with Council Directive 2006/79/EC[^f00002].

Citation and commencement

1

This Order may be cited as the Value Added Tax (Small Non-Commercial Consignments) Relief (Amendment) Order 2015 and comes into force on 1st January 2016.

Amendment of the Value Added Tax (Small Non-Commercial Consignments) Relief Order 1986

2

The Value Added Tax (Small Non-Commercial Consignments) Relief Order 1986[^f00003] is amended as follows.

3

In article 3(2) (relief from value added tax), for “£36” substitute “£34”.

Signed

Mel Stride — George Hollingbery — Two of the Lords Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Treasury — 10th December 2015

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order amends article 3(2) of the Value Added Tax (Small Non-Commercial Consignments) Relief Order 1986 (S.I. 1986/939). That Order provides for relief from VAT in certain circumstances for small non-commercial consignments of goods imported into the UK from a place outside of the European Union, and article 3(2) of that Order specifies the maximum value of goods in a “small consignment”. Article 3 of this Order lowers that maximum value from £36 to £34.

This amendment is made in order to comply with Council Directive 2006/79/EC (OJ No L 286, 17.10.2006), which specifies that a small non-commercial consignment is a consignment whose value does not exceed €45. Member States whose national currency is not the euro are required by the Directive to determine the equivalent amount in their national currency annually by reference to an exchange rate obtained on the first working day of October and then specify that amount for the purposes of their national legislation with effect from 1st January of the following year. On 1st October 2015 the sterling equivalent of €45 was £34.

A Tax Information and Impact Note has not been prepared for this Instrument as it contains no substantive changes to tax policy.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1994 c.23.

[^f00002]: OJ No L 286, 17.10.2006, p15.

[^f00003]: S.I. 1986/939. The amount in article 3(2) was last amended by S.I.2012/3060; there are other amending instruments but none is relevant.