North Macedonia: New rulebook on application of VAT

The Ministry of Finance published in Official Gazette No. 18 (dated 25 January 2024), a new rulebook on the application of the value added tax (VAT) law. The new rulebook enters into force from 26 January 2024, when the old rulebook ceases to have effect.

The changes brought by the new rulebook provide further guidance on the application of some of the recent amendments to the VAT law, and generally follow the provisions of the Council Implementing Regulation of the EU.

Main changes compared to the old rulebook include:

• Definitions of:
  • What is considered as telecommunication services
  • What is considered as broadcasting services
  • Further definition on electronically supplied services
• For the purposes of determining whether services have their place of supply abroad in case of supplies to taxable persons, taxpayers are required to obtain:
  
  • A certificate issued by the relevant tax authorities that contains the recipient’s tax number and proves that the recipient is a taxable person
  • Alternatively, the supplier needs to obtain the recipient’s VAT number or a similar registration number issued by the foreign authorities, which is used to identify that the recipient carries business activities, or to determine in another manner that the recipient is a taxable person or a person that is considered as taxable person
• Definitions of what is considered means of transport and further detailed regulation, with respect to the determination of the place of supply in case of lease of such means
• Further detailed regulation on how to determine the location of the recipient, with respect to telecommunication services, broadcasting services and electronically supplied services
• Invoicing requirements with respect to fiscal representatives—tax representatives can issue one collective invoice for the calendar month or the calendar quarter, whereby the collective invoice is to contain the following minimum information:
  • Place, date of issuance, and number
  • Name and VAT number of the foreign taxpayer and the address of the tax representative
  • Month or a quarter in which the supplies were carried, or in which the payments were received
  • Reference to the number and the date of the calculations which are issued by the foreign person
  • Tax base
  • Tax rate
  • Amount of VAT
  • Total amount
  • Name, surname, and signature of the authorized person at the tax representative

The collective invoice is issued within five days from the end of the period.

With respect to the record keeping obligations of tax representatives, they are liable to record the tax base, the applied VAT rate, the amount of the VAT, and the total amount, for each separate invoice.

Read a January 2024 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in North Macedonia