According to the decision of the Ministry of Finance, No. POL 1167 / 29.07.2015 published in the Government's Gazette 1808 / 21.08.2015, the terms, the conditions and the VAT exemption procedure are defined for the purchase or import of goods meant for export and intra-community delivery and for the services which are directly related to those transactions.

• Beneficiaries

The taxable persons have the possibility to purchase from within the country or import goods with exemption from VAT if these goods are going to be subject of exports, according to Article 24, paragraph 1, cases a and b, and of intra-community deliveries, according to Article 28, paragraph 1, cases a and c of the VAT Code (Law 2859 / 2000) and to receive services which are directly linked to these activities.

• Requirements for the exemption approval

An exemption from VAT is immediately granted for purchases from within the country or the import of goods or the receipt of services, to the beneficiaries, natural or legal persons, of the above mentioned article, who, during the financial period in which they have supplied the application or in one of the previews three financial periods, have met the following requirements:

• Calculation of the exemption limit

The total value of transactions which may be done with exemption from tax in a period of 12 months cannot exceed the total value of exports and intra-community deliveries, which took place in the 12-month period that ends on the last day of the month preceding the application submitted by the taxable person for the approval of the exemption.

The granted limit is valid for the next twelve months of the approval.

If the exemption limit is reached before the end of the 12-month period for which it was granted, the taxable person is allowed to repeat the VAT exemption process if at least one month is over from the previous request.

• The approval process for the exemption limit

The taxable person who is requesting a VAT exemption for the purchase or the import of goods which are going to be subject of export or of intra-community delivery such as the receipt of services which are directly linked with these transactions, is obliged to submit to the director of the  tax office the following documents: 

a) Printed application,

b) Cumulative list of exports which are considered as finalized and have not been   

    cancelled during the determined period,

c) Cumulative list of intra-community deliveries  

The director of the tax office after carrying out an audit will directly issue a decision regarding the approval of the exemption limit or the rejection of the request.

• Calculation of VAT exemption limit for newly established or new beneficiaries or transformed beneficiaries (it concerns legal and natural persons)

For the implementation of the regulations of this decision, as new and newly established persons are the persons considered which have submitted an application in order to start their business activities and until their submission of the application for a VAT exemption, no 12 full calendar months have been completed.Also, as new are those persons considered which have submitted an application for the start of their business activities, but a 12-month period has not been completed from the performance of the first export or intra-community delivery until the last day of the month preceding the application month.

For the first calculation, according to the above, of the VAT exemption limit, the total value or exports and intra-community deliveries of the calendar quarter preceding the application is taken into consideration, which is completed on the last day of the month preceding the application month.

This limit is valid until its exhaustion, but not beyond the completion of the first calendar 12-month period from the date of approval of its grant.

For beneficiaries from a merger or a change of corporate form (transformation) which have not completed a full 12-month period running their business from their establishment date or their business registration at the tax office or their merger, the exemption limit is calculated on the basis of the total sum of exports and intra- community deliveries which have been done, increased by the value of these transactions that were made by each one of the beneficiaries who were converted or merged during the previous period, which is missing to complete a full 12-month period.

• Time and way of issuance of the Special Duplicate VAT Exemption Note.  

In order to receive the VAT exemption according to this decision the taxable person has to issue to his supplier or to the customs, according to the case, a special duplicate VAT exemption note, either manually or electronically.

The “Special Duplicate VAT Exemption Note” has to be issued in two duplicates from the buyer or the importer or the services recipient. The first copy is handed out to the supplier as long as he has consented to the transaction with the specific procedure in order for him to issue the invoice, or it is handed out to the customs office in order for the import to be completed without the transaction to be burdened with VAT.

The supplier, who is going to issue invoices for the mentioned transactions, is writing the numbers of the relevant exemption notes.  

There is no possibility of issuing an invoice without VAT which corresponds to a transaction without having previously issued a special duplicate exemption note.

• Revocation of the granted exemption limit

If, after the approval of the exemption limit, some of the above mentioned violations of paragraph 2 of Article 55 of Law 4174 / 2013, as it stands today, are found from the side of the beneficiaries, or if these persons have made use of the "Special Duplicate VAT Exemption Note" without prior authorization, or exceeding the awarded limit or exceeding of the 12-month period for which the limit was granted, the granted approval is withdrawn. The recall takes place by the decision of the director of the tax office in which the beneficiary belongs and it is valid until the completion of the 12-month period for which the limit is reached.

• Other regulations

The Special Duplicate VAT Exemption Note has to be kept by both counterparties for the time provided by law to safeguard the relevant invoice.

From the validation of this decision, that means from the 29th July 2015, the "Special Duplicate VAT Exemption Note" which is used by the companies, is still valid until the limit exhaustion or the expiration of the 12-month period for which the exemption limit was granted.

NOTE: This article does not cover advisory, but only informational purposes, and cannot serve, as a basis for further actions, on the part of   the reader. Reception of specialized advice is required.

Our company does not hold any responsibility for any actions, taken by the readers, based on the present article.