424 tal-2012

L.N. 424 of 2012

VALUE ADDED TAX ACT

(CAP. 406)

Value Added Tax Act (Amendment of Fourteenth Schedule)

Regulations, 2012

IN virtue of the powers conferred by articles 57 and 75 of the

Value Added Tax Act, the Minister of Finance, the Economy and

Investment has made the following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Value Added Tax

Act (Amendment of Fourteenth Schedule) Regulations, 2012, and

these regulations shall be read and construed as one with the

Fourteenth Schedule to the Value Added Tax Act, which Fourteenth

Schedule is hereinafter in these regulations referred to as "the

Schedule".

(2) These regulations bring into force the provisions of

Council Directive 2010/45/EU of the 13th July 2010 amending

Council Directive 2006/112/EC.

(3) These regulations shall come into force on the 1st January

2013.

Part One of the Schedule shall be substituted by the

following

"Part One

Professional Services

Interpretation

1. In this Part -

"professional services" means

(a) services performed by a person holding a

warrant issued under any law in force in Malta to practise a

profession acting in an independent capacity in the

exercise of that profession;

(b) services of a group of persons holding a

warrant issued under any law in force in Malta to practise a

profession whether associated in a partnership or not but

excluding a company;

(c) services performed by an arbitrator pursuant

to a submission for arbitration made in conformity with the

Arbitration Act;

(d) services performed by a judicial referee or an

expert appointed by a court or by a tribunal set up by law.

Cash accounting option

2. (1) Subject to the other provisions of this Part, a

person who supplies professional services and whose annual

turn-over does not exceed €2,000,000, exclusive of the tax, may

opt that the tax becomes chargeable on the earlier of

(a) the date when a tax invoice or a fiscal receipt,

as the case may be, is issued for the supply, to the extent

covered by that invoice or receipt;

(b) the date when a payment is made for that

supply, to the extent covered by that payment

Provided that the right of deduction of input tax of that

person shall be postponed until the tax on any goods or services

supplied to him has been paid to his supplier.

(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) shall not apply to

supplies of services in respect of which the tax is payable by the

customer and to supplies or transfers of goods referred to in

item 4 of the Fourth Schedule.

Date when certain professional services are performed

When, for any purpose of the Act, it is necessary to

determine the date when the services referred to in this item are

performed, the following provisions shall apply

(a) the services of an advocate or of a legal

procurator in assisting any party to judicial proceedings

shall be treated as performed on the date when a final

decree or judgment in those proceedings is delivered by

the court in which the proceedings have been instituted

(services relating to proceedings instituted in different

courts being treated as supplied separately) or, when the

advocate or legal procurator abandons or is abandoned by

his client at an earlier date, on such earlier date;

(b) the services of a judicial referee or of an

expert appointed by a court or by a tribunal set up by law

shall be treated as performed on the date on which the

report is filed in or made to the court or tribunal or, when

the appointment is terminated on an earlier date, on such

earlier date;

(c) the services of an arbitrator shall be treated as

performed on the date of the award or, when the

appointment is terminated on an earlier date, on such

earlier date.

Invoices and receipts for professional services

(1) Where a tax invoice is required to be issued for

a supply of professional services made in terms of item 2, it

shall be issued by not later than the fifteenth day of the month

following that in which the payment for the said supply of

services is made, to the extent covered by that payment.

(2) Where a fiscal receipt is required to be issued for a

supply of professional services made in terms of item 2 it shall,

unless it has been issued before the payment has been made, be

issued and delivered to the person who effects the payment or to

whom the services have been supplied, immediately after

payment has been effected, to the extent covered by that

payment.

Tax on certain professional services where tariffs of fees

are established by law

(1) The tax chargeable on a supply of professional

services shall be an amount over and above the amount resulting

to be chargeable for those services in terms of any tariff of fees

established under any law in force in Malta.

(2) Nothing in this item shall be construed as requiring

any person required by law to assess or declare the fees payable

in accordance with any such tariff to declare or assess also the

said tax.

(3) In any action for the enforcement of the executive

title referred to in article 253(c) of the Code of Organization and

Civil Procedure, the amount for which payment may be

enforced shall be the amount shown in the taxed bill of costs in

question increased by any tax chargeable on the supply of

professional services to which the taxed bill of costs refers as

evidenced by a tax invoice or a fiscal receipt or a certified copy

thereof attached to the said bill.

(4) The provisions of paragraph (3) of this item shall be

without prejudice to the right of the debtor to request the

delivery of the original tax invoice or the fiscal receipt in

accordance with item 6 of this Part.

Tax claimed from third parties

The provisions of this item shall apply with respect

to any action for the payment of fees for professional services

brought against any person other than the person to whom the

services were supplied

(a) the person against whom the action is brought

shall not be bound to pay the amount relating to the tax, if

any, chargeable on the supply of the said services unless

the original tax invoice or fiscal receipt for those services

complying with the provisions of paragraph (b) of this item

is delivered to him, or, where the action is brought against

a number of persons jointly, to any one of them;

(b) a tax invoice or fiscal receipt delivered as

aforesaid shall, in addition to the information required by

the Act, contain -

(i) the following declaration signed by the

person to whom the said services were rendered

"I declare that no credit for input tax has been

or will be claimed by me in respect of the

professional services referred to in this tax invoice/

fiscal receipt.";

(ii) where the person against whom the

action or claim is brought is a person registered

under article 10, or, where the action is brought

against a number of persons jointly, when any one

of them is a person registered under article 10, the

name and Value Added Tax identification number

of the said registered person;

(c) when a tax invoice or fiscal receipt for fees

for professional services complying with the provisions of

paragraph (b) of this item is delivered to a taxable person

who is bound at law to pay or reimburse the said fees it

shall for the purposes of this Act be treated as if it were a

tax invoice for professional services supplied to him.".

3. Part Three of the Schedule shall be substituted by the

following

"Part Three

Supplies by Retailers and by Civil, Mechanical

and Electrical Engineering Contractors

Applicability

1. This Part applies to retailers, civil, mechanical and

electrical engineering contractors whose annual turn-over does

not exceed €2,000,000, exclusive of the tax.

Cash accounting option

2. (1) Subject to the other provisions of this Part, any

person referred to in item 1 may opt that the tax on supplies

made by him becomes chargeable on the earlier of

(a) the date when a tax invoice or a fiscal receipt,

as the case may be, is issued for the supply, to the extent

covered by that invoice or receipt;

(b) the date when a payment is made for that

supply, to the extent covered by that payment

Provided that the right of deduction of input tax of that

person shall be postponed until the tax on the goods or services

supplied to him has been paid to his supplier.

(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) shall not apply to

supplies of goods or services in respect of which the tax is

payable by the customer and to supplies or transfers of goods

referred to in item 4 of the Fourth Schedule.".

€0.45