Tax Newsletter - January 2019 | Miscellaneous

The DGT clarifies the VAT treatment of vouchers - Decision of December 28, 2018, by the Directorate-General for Taxes

The Decision of December 28, 2018 by the Directorate General for Taxes, on the VAT treatment of vouchers was published in the Official State Gazette on December 31, 2018. The draft decision was discussed in our VAT commentary dated November 28, 2018 when it was submitted for public consultation.

This decision transposes the amendments introduced in the VAT Directive in 2016, regarding taxation of the issue, distribution and exchange of vouchers, in other words, of the instruments that must be accepted “as full or part consideration for a supply of goods or services and where the goods or services to be supplied or the identities of the potential suppliers of the goods or services are known because they are either indicated on the instrument itself or in related documentation, including the terms and conditions of such instrument”.

From this general definition a distinction is made between “single-purpose” vouchers, meaning a voucher where the tax due on the goods or services for which the voucher will be exchanged is known at the time of issue, and “multi-purpose vouchers”, meaning a voucher where the tax due on the transaction will only be known when the voucher is exchanged (because, for example, they may be exchanged for goods or services that are taxed at different rates or that have different places of supply).

The provisions concerned must be applied to vouchers issued on or after December 31, 2018.