In Focus

Changes in the Regulation for Application of the Value Added Tax Act (RAVATA)

August 4, 2022

Changes in the Regulation for Application of the Value Added  Tax Act (RAVATA)

In State Gazette, issue 59 of 26 July 2022 a Regulation on Amendment and Supplementation of the RAVATA was published. The purpose of the changes is to make the provisions of RAVATA compliant with those of the Value Added Tax Act (VATA) after the amendments made in 2022 (SG issue 14 of 18 February 2022, issue 52 of 05 July 2022 and issue 58 of 23 July 2022). Some of the changes are editorial or clarifying. The most significant changes are commented herein below:

1. Certifying the circumstances under supplies

1.1. Until now in order to evidence the supply of goods that are transported to a third country or a third territory the taxable person should have an invoice issued by him. In certain cases VATA does not impose an obligation for documenting the supply by an invoice. That is why, nevertheless the goods were transported out of the country, the taxable person couldnot evidence this fact with an invoice. The amendment of Art. 21, para 1 и 2 RAVATA allows instead of invoice another document to be issued evidencing that the exported goods are subject to the supply.

1.2. Another situation that created difficulties for the taxable persons to evidence export was the delivery through postal or express consignment, where the taxable person is not in possession of a customs document to certify the export as such document is issued in the name of the postal operator or courier. The new para 3 of 21 RAVATA provides for the documents by means of which the export of the goods in such case shall be evidenced:

• Any document that demonstrates that the goods dispatched/transported have been exported. The type of the document is not specified (bill of lading issued by the postal operator/courier, customs declaration in the name of the courier, etc.)
• An invoice for the supply or another document evidencing that subject to the supply are the exported goods.

1.3. The supplementation of Art. 39 RAVATA clarifies the evidencing of performed and received supplies of vaccines against COVID-19 and COVID-19 invitro diagnostic articles that are subject to a 0% rate according to Art. 36b VATA. It is clarified that the 0% rate shall be applied when a document for the supply is issued by the end of the month following the month in which the tax became payable, including when the tax is due by the recipient under the supply. In case no invoice is issued within this term the tax rate shall be 20%. If subsequently a document is ensured for the supply adjustment of the VAT charged shall be made.

2. Exemption

By means of the new para 2 of Art. 41 RAVATA the performance of clinical trials of pharmaceutical products for human use by a principal investigator and investigator/s on a subject is expressly included in the scope of exempt healthcare services. With respect to the definition of the terms “clinical trial”, “principal investigator”, “investigator” and “subject” the new s.10 of the Additional Provisions of RAVATA refers to the Law on Pharmaceutical Products in Human Medicine, which in turn refers to Regulation (ЕU) 536/2014. As additional condition for treating the supply as exempt is specified that the trial shall has as purpose the prophylactics, diagnosis and treatment of diseases for which there are limited or no therapeutic options and from which significant therapeutic and public health benefits could be expected. The new provisions give rise to several questions: (1) It is not clear who and how will justify the existence of the above mentioned circumstances in order the clinical trial to be treated as exempt supply. Our expectation in this respect is that the NRA will issue interpretation letter regarding the treatment of clinical trials as exempt supply. (2) The change in tax treatment is significant as until now the clinical trials have been treated as subject to a taxable supply. No transitional provisions were introduced in RAVATA to arrange eventual adjustments of input VAT deducted by the principal investigators in relation to equipment purchased, as well as for expenses incurred. (3) The change in treatment is made with provisions of RAVATA and disputes may arise due to contradiction with the provisions of VATA, which shall not be interpreted broadly with regard to exemptions.  

3. Changes related to the special schemes

In relation with the changes made in VATA in 2022 regarding the application of the special schemes (Union Scheme, Non-Union Scheme and Import Scheme) supplementations and clarifications were made as follows:

3.1. The amendment of Art. 55b RAVATA clarifies that a person that was registered only for the Union Scheme shall not charge VAT for sales on the territory of the country. For persons registered under the Import Scheme Art. 157а VATA creates an obligation to register in advance on the grounds of Art. 96, 97 or 100 VATA and for this reason they have been excluded from all limitations provided for persons registered for the special schemes.

3.2. The amendment of Art. 95, para 3 RAVATA creates an obligation for taxable persons that are established only in Bulgaria and apply for registration under the Union Scheme, to submit together with the application for registration a reference for the total amount, VAT excluded (expressed in BGN applying the exchange rate of the European Central Bank as at 5 December 2017) of the supplies of goods and services within the scope of this scheme for the current and the previous year.

3.3. The new para 10 -12 of Art. 95 RAVATA provide for a possibility for ex officio termination of the registration under the special schemes in case of termination or deleting of a legal entity or decease of a natural person.

3.4. Taxable persons registered for the special schemes shall keep a separate report on sales for the supplies within the scope of these schemes, including when the sales have been documented with a tax invoice or a note to invoice (Art. 112, para 6 RAVATA as edited). The data from the report on sales shall be entered in the Sales Ledger on a single line. In this case the issued documents shall not be reported in the Sales Ledger.

4. Corrections of tax documents due to wrong tax treatment of supply

4.1. The new Art. 58а RAVATA expressly arranges the right to deduction of input VAT in case of correction of wrongly issued tax document. This right can be exercised in the period of issuance of the new tax document or any of the subsequent 12 periods but only if the wrongly issued document has been reported in the Purchases Ledger of the recipient within the terms under Art. 72 VATA (e. in the period when the right to deduction has arisen or in any of the 12 monthly periods thereafter). Although the main text of the provision does not contain limitations with respect to the reason for the correction, from the title of Art. 58а RAVATA it becomes clear that it relates only to cases of corrections due to wrong tax treatment found.

4.2. The new Art. 58b RAVATA regulates the deduction of input VAT by the recipient under a supply which has been wrongly tax treated and correction was made in case tax assessment has entered into force. The recipient can deduct input VAT on the grounds of a new document issued by the supplier if the liability  that was assessed with the assessment  was paid and the wrongly issued document has been reported in the Purchases Ledger within the term under Art. 72 VATA. The same procedure shall apply also when the tax audit made no adjustment of the tax charged for the supply itself.

4.3 On the other hand, the new Art. 67а and 67b arrange making of corrections in case of wrong tax treatment and of an effective tax assessment at the supplier side. The same requirement - the liability under the assessment to be paid or netted off - is imposed in order the correction to be admissible. In case no tax document has been issued for the supply as a result of the wrong tax treatment, it is allowed such document to be issued. In this case according to the new para 12 of 77 RAVATA the newly issued document shall refer to the number of the tax assessment and the date of payment  of the liability to the NRA bank account.

4.4. With respect to the reporting of the wrongly issued documents cancelation and the newly issued documents in the Sales Ledger and Purchases Ledger of the supplier, correspondingly the recipient under the supply changes were made to the data format in Appendix No. 12 to RAVATA. Besides, the new para 20 and 21 of Art. 113 RAVATA provide for the way of reporting the correctins in the Sales Ledger and the Purchases Ledger.

4.5. The new Art. 71а RAVATA regulates the case when as a result of the correction of wrong tax treatment refundable VAT arises. In this case the refund shall be made under the procedure in Art. 128 TSSPC after objective judgement by NRA who of the parties under the supply has incurred illegal tax burden.

5. Agreement for issuing documents on behalf of another taxable person

Until now Art. 79а RAVATA contained exemplary enumerated information that should have been included in such an agreement. With the present amendments and supplementations the data that shall compulsory be included in the agreement are expressly enumerated. Besides with a new para 13  to the same article an obligation is created the same information to be included in the notification that is submitted to the NRA in case the agreement is not in writing.

6. Applying of the zero rate for import by and supplies to certain persons and institutions

6.1. With the amendment of Art. 109 RAVATA the requirements are clarified for applying zero rate for supplies on the territory of the country when recipients are military forces/army commanders/military headquarters of NATO and NATO member countries, EU institutions, European Atomic Energy Community, European Central Bank, European Investment Bank or EU bodies enumerated in Art. 173, para 5 VATA and other organisations or persons with similar statute, as well as the documents needed to evidence the right to apply zero rate. In general these documents are:

• Invoice for the supply;
• Certificate for exemption from VAT and/or excise duty as per the form in Annex II to Art. 51 of Regulation for implementation (ЕU) 2022/432 of the Council of 15 March 2022, certified by the NRA Territorial Directorate in Sofia.

Additionally, Art. 110 and 111 RAVATA in their new wording provide for the procedure for approval of the certificates by the NRA Territorial Directorate in Sofia and the requirements to the certificate forms for exemption from VAT and/or excise duty. 

7. Report on sales, ledgers and declaring

7.1. The new wording of Art. 115, para 1 RAVATA is aimed to clarify what are the declaring obligations of taxable persons depending on their type of registration (submission of only VAT return under Art. 125 VATA, submission of VAT return and VIES-declaration, submission of VAT return and a declaration under the special schemes, etc.).

7.2. The new para 7 of Art. 112 RAVATA clarifies that when goods and/or services are supplied, and payment is made by means of single-purpose voucher issued by a person different from the supplier,  the sale shall  not be reported in the report on sales.

7.3. In the Transitional and Final Provisions (TFP) of RAVATA a new 20а is created, which imposes an obligation to the final distributors of fuel to maintain separate report on sales for the fuel compensations paid and the information from this report shall be entered into the Sales Ledger on a single line. It is specified which columns exactly shall be filled in. Clarification is made that the extended fiscal receipts that are issued in this case shall be reported as follows: (1) the part related to sales of fuel for which compensation is paid – in the separate report on sales; and (2) if there are other sales documented with this fiscal receipt – in the ordinary report on sales.

7.4. The same 20а of TFP RAVATA specifies how the import, intra Community acquisition and supplies with place within the country of bread and flour, subject to 0% rate shall be reported in the report on sales. For the fiscal receipts issued in relation to sales of bread/flour at 0% rate the taxable persons shall maintain separate report on sales, which shall be included in the Sales Ledger on a single line.

8. Other changes

8.1. Significant attention is paid to the topics related to individuals’ identification numbers used for VAT purposes. The cases related to changes in the way of performance of activities (as freelancer or singe entrepreneur) are expressly arranged, as well as the corresponding change of the individual’s identification number. After 1 October 2022 NRA will change ex officio the identification numbers of the individuals entered in BULSTAT Register if up to that date they were identified with a number different from BULSTAT identification code (PIN or FIN) and shall respectively notify the individuals for the change made and their new identification number for VAT purposes (§ 54 TFP of the Regulation for Amendment and Supplementation of RAVATA). Until 30 September 2022 the individuals shall use their now effective identification numbers.

8.2. Changes were made in many forms of documents as well as of the data format in the reporting ledgers.

The changes enter into force from the date of promulgation (26 July 2022) with the exception of the changes in the forms of documents that shall enter into force on 1 August 2022.    

This material is not exhaustive, but rather has general information nature and does not constitute specific advice or consultation. Should you have questions, do not hesitate to contact us at Tel. + 359 2 9433700, Fax + 359 2 9433707, e-mail: office@afa.bg or at the following address: 1504 Sofia, 38, Oborishte Street.

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