VAT, LTD, POD

After reading https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-7001-should-i-be-registered-for-vat/vat-notice-7001-should-i-be-registered-for-vat, I understand that NETP (such as someone who is currently a resident of an EU country, even though the UK citizen) would have to be registered for VAT regardless of the revenue threshold IF "you make any taxable supplies in the UK". However, the document at https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-registration-manual/vatreg37150 states that "Non-established taxable person (NETP) is used to describe a person who is liable to be registered for VAT under Schedule 1A to the VAT ACT 1994." Since NETP is specifically pointing to a "person", it is a bit confusing whether the UK Limited Company (director, no employees), would also have to register for VAT regardless of the thresholds (if "taxable supplies in the UK" are made). Could someone on the HMRC team please elaborate on that and point to the documents clearly outlining the LTD scenario? Additionally, do I understand this correctly, that the key here is actually selling "taxable supplies in the UK", and for the business such as Print On Demand for example, where the model of the vendor company is making actual sales (say Amazon KDP, Lulu or Redbubble), the registration for VAT would not be needed? Thanks.

"Person" is thw word used in the legislation to describe i) a sole trader, ii) a partnership or iii) a company. Basically, whatever form of business structure you operate as is "the person". For example, you could be a sole trader selling IT consultancy services, but you can also have a company of which you are a 100% shareholder, in this example there are two taxable persons, a sole trader and a company, trust that makes sense. So if you own a company, even a UK td, if you are a Director and non-resident in UK, then the Ltd is seen as non established in the UK and so the VAT threshold is Nil. As for whether you are making taxable supplies in the UK, if you are performing digital services for UK consumers (B2C), that would suggest you would need a UK VAT registration, but it does depend on exactly what sort of services you are proving under the definition "print on demand", but it sounds like a digital service.

Hi,

When the guidance makes reference to non established taxable persons this is not limited to individuals but includes limited companies as well. Please see the guidance below which explains when HMRC judges a limited company to be either a UK established business or a NETP.

Non-established taxable persons — basic information

We would require non established businesses to register for VAT in the UK where they are making supplies in the UK where the place of supply of those sales are deemed to be in the UK. The guidance below sets out the rules for the place of supply of services:

Background to place of supply of services

Thank you.

Thanks, Jay and HMRC Admin 19. Understood regarding the person in this context being effectively the company. On the topic of POD, there are effectively 2 models: - Popular one like offered by Printify, where you are effectively buying the item from Printify and reselling it to the customer, in which case I believe the burden of accounting for VAT falls onto you as the actual seller. - Something like offered by Redbubble (and I believe Amazon KDP), where the item is actually sold by POD service and you are only getting a cut. My question is about that second option. For example, as document at [Link removed]"Redbubble will calculate, collect and remit VAT to the relevant EU tax authorities". That looks rather straightforward, and I believe the VAT registration is not required in such case (but would be great if some HMRC admin could confirm). With KDP the discussions also point to that [link / details removed]

HI
So that I can advise specifically on a supply can you detail what exactly is being provided as a service, where the supplier is and who and where the customer is.

Hi HMRC Admin 10, Sure, one of the examples would be Redbubble - artists can upload their design, and Redbubble itself (headquartered in Australia) can then sell items with such design on them worldwide. They have fullfillers (doing the actual printing and shipment) in the US, Europe and Australia (multiple locations), as outlined in their help pages covering where does my order ship from. The customers could be anywhere. Redbubble claims to take care of taxes and VAT, as outlined at their help pages on how is my payment calculated [web links removed]
 

Hi,
If the supplies are digital in nature and the supplies are being made to consumers via a digital platform then the platform would normally be responsible for the VAT.
Please see the guidance below:
Digital portals, platforms, gateways and marketplaces
Thankyou.