This blog was last updated on August 8, 2019

For those currently in the midst of preparing monthly Intrastat returns, the recent increase in reporting thresholds by a number of countries across the European Union (EU) will be of limited comfort. For those companies where the volume of goods being moved between EU countries are close to the current reporting thresholds however, the updates may be a welcome relief to ensure they can continue to take advantage of exemptions from reporting.

Reporting thresholds

Intrastat reporting is a monthly requirement for companies which move goods between EU member states.  It covers not only sales and purchases but also other cross-border movements of goods, for example transfers between group companies.  Separate declarations are required for arrivals into the country and dispatches out of the country, with reporting of the statistical value and mass of goods being the common required items, analysed by commodity code and country of origin/dispatch.  The exact details of the content, format and method of transmission varies between countries.

Each country in the EU has set thresholds for arrivals and dispatches.  If the value of goods received by a company into a country in the calendar year falls below the arrivals threshold specified by that country, then the company is exempt from the requirement to file arrivals declarations.  Similarly, if the value of goods dispatched by a company from a particular country falls below the dispatch threshold specified by that country, then the company is exempt from the requirement to file dispatch declarations. 

The thresholds are applied on a calendar year basis and companies which are taking advantage of these reporting exemptions need to monitor the value of their EU arrivals and dispatches carefully in case they exceed the threshold.  In most countries, once the value of a company’s cross border movements exceed the relevant threshold, they are required to submit Intrastat declarations for the month in which they exceed the threshold and will continue to be required to file monthly declarations, at least until the end of the calendar year.  For example, in the UK the dispatches threshold is currently £250,000.  A UK company selling £60,000 of goods each month to other EU countries would trigger the threshold in May and would be required to submit Intrastat dispatch declarations each month from May onwards.  Taking into account the fast turnaround required (in most cases the deadline for submissions is 10 days after the month end) companies which find themselves close to the thresholds will need to be increasingly prepared in the latter part of the year in case they need to start making submissions.  

Recent changes

The following countries have increased their Intrastat exemption thresholds with effect from 1 January 2019:

A notable exception to the trend in increasing the exemption thresholds is The Netherlands, which reduced the arrival threshold from €1,000,000 to €800,000 and reduced the dispatches threshold from €1,200,000 to €1,000,000, both with effect from 1 January 2019.  Fortunately for companies which exceed this threshold, the Dutch authorities permit a yearly arrivals declaration to be made instead of monthly declarations where the annual value of arrivals does not exceed €5,000,000 and, similarly, for dispatches where the annual value of dispatches does not exceed €5,000,000.

Additional data to be collected

To complicate matters, some EU countries have additional reporting requirements for companies which exceed additional higher thresholds.  For example, in the UK additional data on delivery terms is required to be reported for companies where the annual value of supplies exceeds £24 million.

There are also proposals by the EU, as part of the proposed Framework Regulation Integrating Business Statistics (FRIBS), to require companies to report VAT number and country of origin in addition to the data fields currently being reported.  This has already been adopted by Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Portugal in 2019 and companies filing Intrastat returns in these countries will be familiar with the new requirements.