Call off & consignment stock VAT

Call Off stock are goods sent from your home country to a warehouse or client’s storage facility in another EU country. Title of the goods still remains with the seller. If a customer has control of the storage, is aware of stock movements and may take stock at will, then if is categorised as Call Off stock and does not generally require the seller to VAT register in the foreign country as a non-resident trader.

For European VAT purposes, any eventual sale it is treated as an intra-community VAT supply. This means the sale is recorded under the seller’s domestic VAT number and return, and there is nil VAT charged. The customer only has to register the sale as an acquisition in its local VAT return. Reporting under Intrastat and EC Sales Listing may still be required.

If the stock is initially sent to the seller’s warehouse which is under their control (including rented storage), then the set-up is treated as Consignment Stock. Typically, there are multiple potential customers for Consignment Stock.

This has a different treatment of EU VAT purposes than Call Off stock. The movement of goods to the warehouse is treated as a supply. This means the seller almost certainly has to VAT register itself in the country of destination. The movement is treated as a self-sale (acquisition). Intrastat reporting will be required at this point, too. When the goods are then sold to the customer, the local VAT is charged and recorded in the seller’s foreign VAT registration.