Requirement to make VAT prepayments for certain categories of businesses
09 Apr 2020On 2 April 2020, the Council of Ministers issued a Decree requiring certain categories of taxpayers to make advanced VAT payments. The decree ΚΔΠ 145/2020, is limited to the categories of businesses that were excluded from the right to defer VAT payments pursuant to measures passed by Parliament on 27th March 2020. More information on these measures may be found in our recent update. A list of the VAT activity codes for these businesses are also provided in the table below for reference:
Activity codes/descriptions exempted from the deferred VAT payment concessions
|
|
Activity code |
Activity description |
|
1. |
35111 |
Production of electricity |
|
2. |
36001 |
Collection and distribution of water for irrigation |
|
3. |
47111 |
Supermarkets and grocery stores |
|
4. |
47112 |
Mini markets |
|
5. |
47191 |
Department stores selling a variety of items of which there is no predominance in food products, beverages or tobacco |
|
6. |
47211 |
Retail sale of fruit and vegetables |
|
7. |
47221 |
Retail sale of meat and meat products, including poultry |
|
8. |
47231 |
Retail sale of fish and seafood |
|
9. |
47241 |
Retail sale of bread and bakery products |
|
10. |
47242 |
Retail sale of confectionary products |
|
11. |
47301 |
Retail supply of fuel |
|
12. |
47411 |
Retail sale of computers, peripheral hardware and software incuding video games |
|
13. |
47611 |
Retail sale of books |
|
14. |
47621 |
Retail sale of newspapers and stationery |
|
15. |
47651 |
Retail sale of toys other than video games |
|
16. |
47731 |
Pharmacies |
|
17. |
61101 |
Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) |
|
18. |
61201 |
Internet services |
|
19. |
61301 |
Satellite services |
|
20. |
61901 |
Telecommunication services other than CyTA |
The Decree provides that affected businesses, should conduct a payment of 30% of the payable VAT within 15 days from the end of each month, for VAT periods periods between 1 January 2020 until 31 May 2020. Further details on the method of payment will be notified by the issue of separate decree from the Minister of Finance, which is expected in the following days.
It is urged that taxable persons check their VAT registration certificate to determine whether they fall under the above scope and may therefore be subject to the relevant provisions.
Relief from duties and VAT on importation for goods essential to the prevention of the spread of COVID-19
The European Commission has addressed to Member States it’s decision of 3 April 2020 to grant relief from import duties and VAT exemption on importation of goods needed to combat the effects of the COVID-19. Eligible goods are those to be imported by or on behalf of State organisations including State bodies, public bodies and other bodies governed by public law or by or on behalf of organisations approved by the competent authorities in the Member States, and to be used free of charge by the persons affected by, or at risk from COVID-19, or involved in combating the COVID-19 outbreak.
The relief is also applicable on goods imported by or on behalf of disaster relief agencies to meet their needs during the period they provide disaster relief to the persons affected by, or at risk from COVID-19, or involved in combatting the COVID-19 outbreak.
The above measures apply to importations made from 30 January 2020 to 31 July 2020.