Section 50A | Margin schemes. ^F1

(1)The Treasury may by order provide, in relation to any such description of supplies to which this section applies as may be specified in the order, for a taxable person to be entitled to opt that, where he makes supplies of that description, VAT is to be charged by reference to the profit margin on the supplies, instead of by reference to their value.

(2)This section applies to the following supplies, that is to say—

(a)supplies of works of art, antiques or collectors’ items;

(b)supplies of motor vehicles;

(c)supplies of second-hand goods; and

(d)any supply of goods through a person who acts as an agent, but in his own name, in relation to the supply.

(3)An option for the purposes of an order under this section shall be exercisable, and may be withdrawn, in such manner as may be required by such an order.

(4)Subject to subsection (7) below, the profit margin on a supply to which this section applies shall be taken, for the purposes of an order under this section, to be equal to the amount (if any) by which the price at which the person making the supply obtained the goods in question is exceeded by the price at which he supplies them.

(5)For the purposes of this section the price at which a person has obtained any goods and the price at which he supplies them shall each be calculated in accordance with the provisions contained in an order under this section; and such an order may, in particular, make provision stipulating the extent to which any VAT charged on a supply... or importation of any goods is to be treated as included in the price at which those goods have been obtained or are supplied.^F2

(6)An order under this section may provide that the consideration for any services supplied in connection with a supply of goods by a person who acts as an agent, but in his own name, in relation to the supply of the goods is to be treated for the purposes of any such order as an amount to be taken into account in computing the profit margin on the supply of the goods, instead of being separately chargeable to VAT as comprised in the value of the services supplied.

(7)An order under this section may provide for the total profit margin on all the goods of a particular description supplied by a person in any prescribed accounting period to be calculated by—

(a)aggregating all the prices at which that person obtained goods of that description in that period together with any amount carried forward to that period in pursuance of paragraph (d) below;

(b)aggregating all the prices at which he supplies goods of that description in that period;

(c)treating the total profit margin on goods supplied in that period as being equal to the amount (if any) by which, for that period, the aggregate calculated in pursuance of paragraph (a) above is exceeded by the aggregate calculated in pursuance of paragraph (b) above; and

(d)treating any amount by which, for that period, the aggregate calculated in pursuance of paragraph (b) above is exceeded by the aggregate calculated in pursuance of paragraph (a) above as an amount to be carried forward to the following prescribed accounting period so as to be included, for the period to which it is carried forward, in any aggregate falling to be calculated in pursuance of paragraph (a) above.

(8)An order under this section may—

(a)make different provision for different cases; and

(b)make provisions of the order subject to such general or special directions as may, in accordance with the order, be given by the Commissioners with respect to any matter to which the order relates.