Belgium guidance on invoices issued in advance of taxable supplies
- Oct 19, 2014 | Richard Asquith
The VAT office has issued guidance this week on the Belgian VAT treatment for invoices issued ahead of the provision of a taxable supply of goods or services.
This new guidance replaces the temporary existing rules covering Belgian advance invoices which was due to expire at the end of 2014. The temporary rules were introduced in 2013 when the Belgian authorities determined that the issuance of an invoice in advance of the taxable supply did not only constitute the tax point (the date at which the VAT should be calculated and collected).
Under the new rules, the issuance of any invoice no earlier that 7 days prior to the taxable supply has no effect on the tax point. If it is earlier, then the supplier has the option to chose either the VAT invoice issuance date or the taxable supply date. The customer may then deduct the input. However, this is dependent on the taxable supply being provided within 90 days of the invoice date. In the case where it isn’t, the deducted VAT will have to be reversed.
