INTRASTAT
The system used to compile statistics on the movement of goods between European Union Member States is known as Intrastat. It came into operation on January 1, 1993 and became the Union’s main source of trade statistics, replacing customs declarations.
Why INTRASTAT?
The success of an economy is considered to be heavily influenced by intra-EU trade figures, which are a crucial component of a country’s balance of trade accounting. Governments use this information to guide them in implementing trade policies, devising new trade initiatives and forecasting the need for transport infrastructure. Businesses and other organizations use these statistics to assess markets (e.g., to measure market penetration or the number of transactions in a market they wish to enter).
The creation of the single market in 1993 entailed the elimination of customs formalities between Member States and, as a consequence, the declarations containing the information necessary to obtain data on trade in products between EU Member States were abolished.
The aforementioned statistics required the use of methods and techniques that would ensure complete and reliable information without placing an excessive burden on businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, while at the same time providing data that would give a current, accurate and detailed picture of the single market.
Who must file the INTRASTAT?
Operators must complete and file the INTRASTAT Declaration if their intra-Community operations generated 400,000 euros of revenue in the previous or current tax year, in one or both flows. Those responsible for providing statistical data who were exempt from filing the declaration are now obliged to do so from the reference period onwards, which means that, if an operator has a monthly turnover of more than 400,000 euros, it must also file the INTRASTAT Declaration for all the following months until the end of the year.
From Connecta Customs Agency we can manage your INTRASTAT declarations, do not hesitate to contact us.
What intra-community operations must an INTRASTAT declaration include?
Movements of goods entering or leaving Spain must be reflected in the Intrastat declaration. Therefore, it is not necessary to file an Intrastat declaration for items that do not enter or leave Spain (even if they are paid or collected). The declaration must be filed by the two EU nations between which the goods are moving.
The INTRASTAT declaration is a list of all intra-EU transactions that have taken place in a given month, organized into declaration items based on specific information that we will discuss below.
As a result, identical processes within a declaration for the same period and flow are aggregated under a single declaration line item, allowing many incoming invoices to result in a single declaration or order line item. The following list of data is used to aggregate the invoices:
– Country of provenance
– Destination Province
– Delivery requirements
– Nature of transaction
– Mode of transport
– Airport/Port
– CN Code
– Country of origin
– Statistical system
– VAT VEIS number of consignee