3.1. The provisions of the Regulations approved by item 1 of this Resolution shall apply to goods and services acquired before 1 May 2004 or for which VAT and excise duties became chargeable in the Republic of Lithuania as of the above-specified date.

3.2. The procedure for refunding value added tax paid on goods and services acquired for the official use of foreign state diplomatic missions and consular posts, representations of international organisations as well as for personal use of members of the diplomatic staff of the missions, consular officers, members of the administrative and technical staff  as well as their family members forming part of their households, including the articles for their establishment in Republic of Lithuania, or, accordingly, the procedure and cases of refunding to the armed forces of foreign states value added tax paid on goods and services acquired in the Republic of Lithuania, approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania Resolution No. 862 of 12 June 2002 (Official gazette, 2002, No. 60-2430), and the procedure for refunding excise duties paid on excisable goods intended for the official use of diplomatic missions and consular posts of foreign states, approved by Order of the Minister of Finance No. 193 of 28 June 2002 (Official gazette, 2002, No. 69-2833) shall be applied with respect to goods and services which were acquired or on which import VAT or excise duties became chargeable in the Republic of Lithuania before 1 May 2004. Value added tax and excise duties paid on goods and services indicated in this item shall be refunded only if the application for the refund of VAT and/or excise duty is filed before 1 January 2005.

1. The Regulations for the Application of Value Added Tax and Excise Duty Exemptions with respect to Goods and Services Intended for Diplomatic Missions, Consular Posts and International Organisations or their Representations as well as Members of these Missions and Posts and their Family Members as well as Armed Forces of NATO Countries and/or the Civilian Staff Accompanying them (hereinafter - these Regulations) establish the procedure for the application of value added tax and excise duty exemptions with respect to goods and services supplied:

2. Where the regulations of the refund of VAT (or comparable tax) and/or excise duties applied in the foreign state with respect to the diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania are less or more favourable than the regulations applied to the diplomatic mission or consular post of that state in the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of Finance, on the advice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shall have be entitled establish with respect to the diplomatic mission and/or consular post of that state in the Republic of Lithuania an accordingly  less or more favourable regulations for the refund of the VAT and/or the excise duties.

 

3. VAT and excise duty exemptions shall be applied to persons referred to in items 1.1 and 1.3 of these Regulations by refunding to the aforementioned persons the amount of VAT or excise duties paid on the goods and services acquired in the Republic of Lithuania, except for the goods and services intended for diplomatic missions, consular posts and international organisations or their representations, members of the missions and posts and their family members, which are on the list of goods and services for which the VAT is not refundable (Annex to the Regulations).

4. VAT shall be refunded only for the goods and services the acquisition price (inclusive of VAT) whereof has been paid on the basis of the VAT invoices, in each one of which the indicated price of goods or services (inclusive of VAT), for which VAT is refundable, is not less than LTL 800. The VAT paid for motor vehicle fuel, communications services, for the supply of heat, electricity, water, gas, community and operation services shall be refunded irrespective of the price of the acquired goods and/or services.

5. The paid excise duties shall be refunded only for the goods whose product sales documents used in the manner prescribed by law state the amount of excise duties calculated on these products (the excise duties are indicated on the buyer’s request) and the price of goods indicated in each of the documents, for which the excise duties are refundable, is at least LTL 200 (inclusive of VAT and excise duties). Excise duties paid on motor vehicle fuel shall be refunded irrespective of the price of the acquired goods and/or services.

6. The VAT and excise duties paid on fuel shall be refunded only in cases where special cards issued by the fuel vendor in the name of the diplomatic mission, consular post, international organisation or its representation (hereinafter - mission) and members of these missions are used for effecting payment for the fuel. 

7. Excise duties paid on manufactured tobacco within the meaning used in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Excise Duties shall not be refunded.

8. At the end of the quarter, by the 15^th day of the next month the mission shall submit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs an application (together with the covering note) claiming the refund of the VAT and excise duties paid on the acquired goods and/or services. The form of the application, the procedure of its filling in and filing shall be established by the central tax administrator. The VAT and excise duties paid shall be refunded only provided the application claiming the refund of the VAT and excise duties paid on the goods and/or services acquired is submitted by the end of the next calendar year after the calendar year when the acquisition of goods and services was formalised.

9. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall within 5 working days after the receipt of the documents certify, by the signature of the authorised officer and the seal of the authorised division, the eligibility of the persons specified in items 1.1 and 1.3 of these Regulations to the refund of the VAT and excise duties and return the confirmed application back to the mission.

10. Claiming the refund of the VAT and excise duties paid by the persons referred to in items 1.1 and 1.3 of these Regulations, the mission must submit to the Vilnius County State Tax Inspectorate (hereafter - the Vilnius CSTI) an application indicated in item 8 of these Regulations, approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The originals of the documents attesting to the acquisition of goods and services and payment effected for the goods and services shall be submitted together with the application (enclosed with copies of the aforementioned documents, should the mission wish to have the originals back; in such event the Vilnius CSTI, having affixed its seal to the originals of the documents, shall send them back to the mission). If refund of the excise duties paid on fuel is claimed, the account (report) for the period of fuel acquisition for which the refund of excise duties is claimed shall also be submitted.

11. The Vilnius CSTI shall refund the VAT and/or excise duties or refuse to refund adhering to the procedures and within the time limits established by the central tax administrator and agreed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

12. Upon the advice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Vilnius CSTI may refuse to refund the VAT and/or excise duties paid if the quantities of the acquired goods and services are in excess of reasonable needs or there are grounds to believe that the goods and services are intended not for the persons specified in items 1.1 and 1.3 of these Regulations.

13. If goods are imported into the Republic of Lithuania, exemptions from VAT and/or excise duty shall be granted according to the provisions and relevant conditions provided in 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (Official gazette, 1999, No. 83-2455), 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (Official gazette, 1999, No. 83-2456) or a relevant international treaty whereunder international organisations are set up or the international treaty of the Republic of Lithuania  with a relevant international organisation.

 

14. If persons specified in items 1.2 and 1.4 of these Regulations acquire goods and/or services in the Republic of Lithuania and/or import goods into the Republic of Lithuania, VAT and/or excise duty exemptions shall be applied by accordingly charging zero rate VAT (or granting exemption from import VAT) and granting exemption from excise duties. The goods and/or services which qualify for VAT and/or excise duty exemptions shall be stipulated in the legal acts of the Member State in which the persons which acquire the goods and/or services are established.

15. Goods may be acquired exempt from excise duty only from tax warehouses. When such goods are transported from the tax warehouses of the Republic of Lithuania, the document for the transportation of products subject to excise duties, referred to in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Excise Duties, must be issued.

16. The persons indicated in items 1.2 and 1.4 who with that VAT and/or excise duty exemptions be applied to the goods and/or services must submit to the supplier of the goods (when the goods are acquired from the tax warehouse - to the authorised warehouse keeper; when the goods are imported - to the territorial customs) and/or the supplier of services a certificate approved by the persons authorised by the competent authority of another Member State, granting the right to acquire the goods and/or services in the Republic of Lithuania and/or to import the goods and/or services into the Republic of Lithuania with VAT and/or excise duty exemptions applied thereto. When exisable goods are acquired not from the authorised warehouse keeper but from another person who keeps excisable goods in the tax warehouse, a copy of the certificate shall be submitted to the supplier of the goods as well. The certificate must satisfy the provisions of 15(10) Article of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the Harmonisation of the Laws of the Member States relating to Turnover Taxes - Common System of Value Added Tax: Uniform Basis of Assessment and Article 23(1) of Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the General Arrangements for Products subject to Excise Duty and on the Holding, Movement and Monitoring of such Products.

 

17. VAT and/or excise duty exemptions shall be applied to persons specified in item 1.5 of these Regulations when they take part in joint military operations, exercise or any other joint military event in the Republic of Lithuania by refunding them VAT and excise duties paid on the goods and services acquired in the Republic of Lithuania and/or imported into the Republic of Lithuania

18. VAT shall be refundable only for the goods and services for which payment has been made inclusive of VAT on the basis of VAT invoices. Paid excise duties shall be refunded only if paid on the goods whose product sales documents used in the manner prescribed by law state the amount of excise duties charged on these products (the excise duties are indicated on the buyer’s request). VAT and excise duties shall not be refunded for ethyl alcohol, alcoholic beverages and manufactured tobacco, as defined in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania  on Excise Duty.

19. Goods and/or services may be acquired by armed forces of NATO countries other than the Republic of Lithuania or on behalf of a foreign state diplomatic mission (consular post).

20. Contracts for the acquisition of goods and/or services shall be drawn up:

21. At the end of the quarter or upon the completion of the joint military event, by the 15^th day of the next month, a person authorised by the armed forces of NATO countries other than the Republic of Lithuania or by foreign state diplomatic missions and/or consular posts shall submit to the Lithuanian Army the list of goods and services acquired in the Republic of Lithuania and/or imported into the Republic of Lithuania by the foreign state armed forces or, accordingly, foreign state diplomatic missions and/or consular posts, the VAT and excise duty paid on which is refundable.

22. The Lithuanian Army shall within 5 working days from the receipt of the list indicated in item 21 of these Regulations approve the list by affixing to it its seal and the signature of an authorised person and send it back to the person who submitted it.

23. Claiming the refund of VAT and excise duties paid by the persons specified in item 1.5 of these Regulations, the armed forces of NATO countries other than the Republic of Lithuania or foreign state diplomatic missions and/or consular posts shall submit to the Vilnius CSTI the duly approved list specified in item 21 of these Regulations. The following documents shall be submitted with the list:

24. The Vilnius CSTI shall refund VAT and/or excise duties or refuse refunding in accordance with the procedure and within the time limits set by the central tax administrator.

25. VAT and Excise duty exemptions shall be applied with respect to goods and/or services which are acquired in the Republic of Lithuania  and/or imported into the Republic of Lithuania and intended for the armed forces of NATO countries other than the Republic of Lithuania or the civilian staff accompanying them, when the armed forces take part in joint military operations, exercise or any other joint military event organised outside the European Community in accordance with the procedure laid down in this Chapter.

26. VAT and/or excise duty exemptions set in the agreement between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states and other states participants in the "Partnership for Peace" programme to be applied with respect to goods and/or services intended for the armed forces of the states parties to the agreement and/or the civilian staff accompanying them, where the goods and/or services are acquired in the Republic of Lithuania and/or goods are imported into the Republic of Lithuania, shall be applied according to the procedure laid down in this Chapter.

27. VAT and/or excise duty exemptions shall be applied with respect to goods and/or services intended for the persons specified in item 1.6 of these Regulations in accordance with the procedure laid down in Chapter III of these Regulations, if the goods and/or services are acquired in the Republic of Lithuania and/or goods are imported into the Republic of Lithuania.

 

OTHER PROVISIONS

GOODS AND SERVICES INTENDED FOR DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS, CONSULAR POSTS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS OR THEIR REPRESENTATIONS AS WELL AS MEMBERS OF THE MISSIONS AND POSTS AND THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS, WHICH DO NOT QUALIFY FOR THE REFUND OF VALUE ADDED TAX