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Practical VAT manual 2023.

B) Concept of consignment goods sales agreement

An agreement for the sale of goods on consignment shall be understood as one concluded between entrepreneurs or professionals for the cross-border sale of goods, under which a businessman (supplier) sends goods from one Member State to another, within the European Union, so that they are stored in the Member State of destination at the disposal of another entrepreneur or professional (customer), who can acquire them at a time after their arrival, provided that they meet the following requirements:

  1. That the goods are dispatched or transported to another Member State by the seller with the aim of these goods being acquired at a later time after their arrival by another business or professional authorised by a prior agreement between both parties.

  2. That the seller does not have the headquarters of his economic activity or a permanent establishment in the Member State of arrival of the shipment or transport.

  3. That the businessperson or professional who is going to acquire the goods is identified for the purposes of Value Added Tax in the Member State of arrival of the shipment or transport, and that tax identification number, as well as his or her name and surname, full business name or corporate name, are known to the seller at the time of the start of the shipment or transport.

  4. That the seller has included the shipment of said goods both in the register of certain intra-Community operations and in the summary declaration of intra-Community operations (form 349).

Transfers of goods from the territory of application of the Tax to another Member State carried out within the framework of a consignment sale agreement that meets the above requirements will not be classified as an operation similar to a delivery of goods and therefore will not be subject to the Tax.

From the point of view of transfers of goods from another Member State to the territory of application of the Tax carried out within the framework of an agreement for the sale of goods on consignment that meets the above requirements, these will not be classified as an operation similar to an intra-Community acquisition of goods and therefore will not be subject to the Tax.