Customs warehousing is a suspensive and economic regime as it allows, upon specific authorization from the Customs Authority, the suspension of payment of duties on the stored goods. This is a structure where goods can be stored without them being subjected to the relevant taxation, while waiting to proceed with the attribution of the final destination. The following types of goods are eligible for the benefit of the regime in question:
Fischer & Rechsteiner is the manager of a type C customs warehouse at its Valmadrera terminal on the basis of authorization issued by the territorially competent Customs Office, having the subjective and objective requirements required by community legislation.
The institution of the VAT deposit, regulated by art. 50-bis of legislative decree no. 331 of 1993, it was foreseen – in implementation of the art. 16 of the Sixth Community Directive, as amended by Community Directive 95/7/EC of 1995 – with the aim of facilitation and simplification, to avoid, following the exceeding of customs borders implemented from 1 January 1993, that Community goods were reserved a worse treatment compared to goods coming from third Countries. In essence, VAT warehouses are places intended to facilitate the movement and custody of goods subject to intra-community trade, in which all operations take place without the payment of VAT.
The operations under the VAT deposit regime, expressly listed in paragraph 4 of the art. 50-bis (intra-community sales or purchases, certain internal sales, imports, provision of services relating to goods kept in warehouses), which are carried out by introducing the goods into the warehouse or which have as their object the goods already existing in the warehouse, are carried out without application of the tax: the payment of VAT, unlike what happens for imports, is postponed to a later moment, i.e. when the goods are removed from the warehouse, in the event that the goods are extracted to be used in the State, or to be marketed there.
For importers of goods this is a relevant option: industrial and commercial companies using this tool can defer the payment of VAT until the actual sale of the imported goods. The advantage is above all for companies that are structurally VAT credit or for those that do not benefit for regular exporters (plafond).
In this case, the person who perform the extraction pays the VAT based on the “reverse charge” system referred to in the art. 17, third paragraph, of the D.P.R. n. 633; this procedure involves the issuing of a self-invoice to be recorded in the VAT register both of sales and purchases, so that is a simply account compensation, with the corresponding right to deduct the relevant amount, in accordance with the art. 19 and following of the same D.P.R. n. 633, with the limitations, reductions and adjustments provided therein. The subjects authorized to keep goods under the VAT deposit regime must necessarily gain the trust of the Financial Administration: in fact, the authorization can be issued exclusively to joint-stock companies that present particular requirements, verified according to rigorous analysis criteria. Fischer & Rechsteiner has obtained specific authorization to handle a VAT Deposit with the identification number 100/C directly within its terminal.
