Pardoning VAT for supply of listed goods

18. March 2021 | Reading Time: 3 Min

The Ministry of Finance has followed up on the current pardon of VAT pursuant to the Minister of Finance’s ruling on VAT pardoning due to special events, made public in Finanční zpravodaj No. 8/2021 on 1. 2. 2021, about which we had already informed you in our Newsletter No. 3/2021.

If an obligation arises to declare VAT in the period from 4. 4. 2021 to 3. 6. 2021 (pursuant to Section 20a para. 1 and 2 VAT Act or pursuant to Section 21 VAT Act) with reference to supply of:

A) filtration half-masks and respirators (if the producer has designated them for user protection), which have been placed on the market pursuant to legal regulations, which are among category III personal protective mediums pursuant to European Parliament and Council (EU) Directive 2016/425 and which fulfill protection parameters of at least FFP2 or have the same or higher filtration efficiency (these masks can, but do not have to be equipped with an exhalation vent; they will, however, be only half-masks or respirators which fulfill FFP2 protection class conditions and higher or, as the case may be, a protection class according to other norms, but which have the same or higher filtration efficiency).

B) respirators (always without an exhalation vent), if they have been designated by the producer both to protect users (wearers), and their environment (including patients), which have been introduced into the market pursuant to legal regulations and if they are at the same time a) a category III personal protective medium pursuant to European Parliament and Council (EU) Directive 2016/425 and b) a risk class I medical medium pursuant to Council Directive 93/42/EEC or pursuant to European Parliament and Council (EU) Directive 2017/745.

C) filters or other accessories for filter half-masks and respirators pursuant to A) and B) (this is a confirmation that these accessories also fall into the set of goods in which VAT had already been pardoned on the basis of the Minister of Finance’s ruling on pardoning VAT due to special events, made public in Finanční zpravodaj No. 8/2021),

 VAT connected with supplying these goods is pardoned.  

The Minister of Finance resorted to the stated measure in connection with the recommendation to use respiratory tract protective mediums with higher filtration efficiency. The Ministry of Finance, in ruling on the division of face masks, has drawn from Council material for the coordination of support of strategic technologies and products at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. This is why the VAT pardon does not relate to medical face masks nor, further, to face masks for the public which include various forms of domestically-sown masks or commercial masks made from cotton or other textiles or materials such as paper.

In the case of the above-defined goods, the VAT payer states the value (tax base) of these goods on line No. 26 of the tax return. VAT is in the given case excused also from ancillary expenses connected with supplying these goods, which are included in the tax base. If the payer has accepted taxable supply which it has used or uses for the purposes of supplying the above-specified goods (connected, for instance, with production, transport, sale of respirators), then it is entitled, on assumption of fulfilling other conditions pursuant to the VAT Act, to a VAT rebate from this supply.

It still applies that if the VAT payer, in connection with supplying the above-mentioned goods in the period from 4. 4. 2021 to 3. 6. 2021, nevertheless enters VAT on an invoice, it will be obliged to declare this VAT as the person who produced the invoice and stated VAT on it pursuant to Section 108 para. 4 letter f) VAT Act. The recipient (customer) of these goods will not, however, be able to claim a VAT rebate on the basis of an invoice produced in this erroneous manner. A supplier (VAT payer), who has mistakenly entered VAT on the invoice will, however, be able to correct such an invoice pursuant to Section 43 VAT Act.

In closing, we draw attention to the fact that the pardon does not relate to VAT in which an obligation has arisen to declare it, e.g. due to purchase of goods from another member state (pursuant to Section 25 VAT Act) or due to import of goods (pursuant to Section 23 VAT Act).