The VAT reverse charge for mobile phones and computer chips has been extended to April 2011.
Further to Revenue & Customs Brief 28/09, HMRC confirm that the Government's application to renew the derogation was formerly agreed on 5 May 2009 by the European Council of Finance Ministers.
The agreement has retroactive effect from 1 May 2009, meaning that legal vires for the reverse charge is unbroken.
The reverse charge for mobile phones and computer chips was implemented with effect from 1 June 2007 to remove the opportunity for fraudsters to use goods to perpetrate missing trader intra-community fraud.
As an exception to the normal accounting rules for VAT, the UK has a derogation from EU law to apply this anti-fraud measure, which ran until 30 April 2009.
