Section 5: Time of supply

5. Time of supply (1) Subject to this Act, a supply of goods or services shall be deemed to take place— (a) at the time an invoice or a VAT invoice in respect of that supply is issued by the supplier; or (b) at the time payment for that supply is received by the supplier, whichever is earlier. (2) Where services are supplied for a continuous period under an enactment or agreement which provides for periodic payments, the services shall be treated as successively supplied for successive parts of the period, as determined by the enactment or agreement, and each successive supply shall be deemed to take place— (a) at the time an invoice or a VAT invoice in respect of that supply is issued by the supplier; or V4 – 7 [Issue 1] Value Added Tax Act (b) at the time payment for that supply is received by the supplier, whichever is earlier. (3) Where a taxable supply is made— (a) under a hire purchase agreement, the supply shall be treated as a supply of goods and it shall be deemed to be supplied at the time the agreement is made; or (b) under a lease agreement, the supply shall be treated as a supply of services and it shall be deemed to be supplied— (i) at the time an invoice or a VAT invoice in respect of that supply is issued by the supplier; or (ii) at the time payment for that supply is received by the supplier, whichever is the earlier. (4) Where any goods specified in Part II of the Seventh Schedule are supplied at the stage in the chain of distribution immediately before the retail stage, the time of supply of those goods shall, subject to subsection (1), be treated, for all intents and purposes, as if the supply at the retail stage has taken place. (5) Notwithstanding this section, the Minister may, by regulations, make provision with respect to the time at which a supply is to be treated as taking place in cases where it is a supply of goods or services for a consideration which is payable periodically or from time to time, or at the end of any period. [S. 5 amended by s. 31 (a) of Act 20 of 2002 w.e.f. 1 October 2002.]