Triangulation

Triangulation refers to an arrangement where goods are sold twice consecutively so that all parties to the transaction are companies registered for VAT in the respective Member States. Furthermore, the goods are transported from one Member State (the first country of sale) to another (the second buyer country). Concerning triangular transactions, the deliveries are included in the statistics if the goods are physically delivered to Finland or exported from Finland (example 1). If this condition is not met, the delivery is not declared in the statistical declaration (example 2).

A Finnish company FI sells goods to a Belgian company BE, which sells them on to a German company DE. The goods are delivered directly from Finland to Germany.

The Finnish company FI submits an Intrastat declaration for this delivery.

NB! The Country of destination is Germany.

A Finnish company FI buys goods from a Swedish company SE and sells them on to a German company DE. The goods are delivered directly from Sweden to Germany.

The Finnish company FI does not submit an Intrastat declaration for this delivery of goods.

An example of trade that is not a triangulation trade

A Finnish company FI sells goods to a German company DE. The goods are delivered to Czechia. This is not a triangulation trade because there are no consecutive sales between these two EU countries. The country of destination in the declaration for dispatches is CZ. The VAT number of the trading partner is the Czech (CZ) company´s VAT number (recipient of the goods in another EU country). If the VAT number is not known declare it as QV999999999999.