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Contact and declaration period information

Contact name - Please enter the contact name of the person HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) should contact with EC Sales List (ESL) queries. This is required information.

Year - Please select the appropriate year from the drop-down list. This is required information.

Period type - This will automatically display how often you need to submit your EC Sales Lists.

If you supply goods and have exceeded the thresholds in any of the previous 4 quarters you'll need to submit monthly lists.

Thresholds

If the total quarterly value of supplies of intra-EC goods, (excluding VAT) exceeds £35,000 in the current quarter, or any of the previous 4 quarters.

If you supply goods and haven't exceeded the quarterly thresholds you can continue to submit quarterly lists.

If you supply services you need to submit lists quarterly but can choose to submit monthly if you prefer.

If you supply both goods and services and are above the quarterly reporting threshold, requiring you to submit monthly lists for goods, you can either:

• report only goods in month 1, report only goods in month 2 and report goods in month 3 and services for the whole quarter
• report both goods and services in each month

If you supply both goods and services and are below the quarterly reporting threshold for goods, all the supplies can be reported on a quarterly basis.

Period - Please select the appropriate period from the drop-down list. This is required information. The period reference is MM/YY (month month/year year) to allow for monthly submissions.

Due date - This will automatically be displayed once the 'Year' and 'Period' have been selected. Timeframes for submitting ESLs are:

• for paper ESLs', 14 days from the end of the reporting period
• for electronic submissions, 21 days from the end of the reporting period

Please note: If you don't submit your ESL by the due date, you risk receiving financial penalties.

Declaration details

Information is needed in all 'Declaration details' fields.

Country Code - Please select the 'Country Code' from the drop-down list.

Customer VAT registration number (VRN) - The VRN must be valid for the country you have selected. For every new customer HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) suggest that you check the validity of their VRN. As a preliminary check you can use the EU Commissions website to confirm that the number is valid.

Please note: If your customer’s VRN is invalid then you must not continue to use it to zero rate supplies to that customer.

For further information about countries and territories within the EU, follow the link to EU country codes, VAT numbers and VAT in other languages.

Total value of supplies - When submitting your figures please note the following:

• Total value of supplies must be a whole number. Don't include the £ symbol, decimal points or commas.
• Don't include pence in your figure.
• A '0' (zero) value is not acceptable. If goods are sent free of charge but don't comply with the 'sample' classification, then the value of the goods must be entered.
• If the supply is of call-off stocks then leave this field blank.
• Negative figures should be prefixed with a minus '-' specifically if the value of the credit notes is greater than the supplies.
• Only include the value of goods including related services and services supplied under the 'general rule', to customers who are registered for VAT in other EC countries. Related services are services that form part of the price of the goods, like freight and transport costs.
• Total the value of goods and services supplied to your customer, deduct credit notes and enter the total, rounded down to the nearest pound sterling.

Indicator - The indicator field allows '0', '2' or '3' for ESLs and ‘4’, ‘5’ or ‘6’ for call-off stocks. Please select the appropriate indicator from the drop-down menu:

• '0' if you supply goods
• '2' if you are the intermediary in a triangular transaction
• '3' if you supply services
• ‘4’ for transports of stock under call-off stock arrangements
• ‘5’ for returned stock, or errors (such as deletions), under call-off stock arrangements
• ‘6’ for change of intended customer (acquirer), under call-off stock arrangements

New Intended Acquirer VAT Registration Number (Intended Customer) – If the line does not relate to call-off stocks leave this field blank

For call-off stocks only, if there has been a change in the intended customer (intended acquirer) you need to update your register with details of the substituted goods and you should include the following on your EC Sales List for that period:

• Your original customer’s 2 letter country code
• Your original customer’s VAT registration number, in the first VAT registration number field
• Your new customer’s VAT registration number, in the second VAT registration number field
• Add code ‘6’, to record a change of intended customer (acquirer) in the indicator column.

Please note – The customer’s VRN must be valid for the country you have selected or it will be rejected.

More Lines - If you are submitting more than 20 lines HMRC suggest you use the bulk upload option.