Jay Cooke

Place of supply of services is usually where the customer is. So if you (a UK entity) have engaged with a UK supplier to supply services in Australia, the suppliers customer is you, in the UK (the suppliers customer is not Australia unless the supplier is contracted to and invoicing Australia). So the supplier is correct in charging UK VAT as their customer is you in the UK. Had the supplier contracted directly with the branch in Australia then it would be a UK supplier selling to a non-UK customer and that would have be outside the scope of VAT.

If the contractor cannot reclaim Irish VAT then the contractor has out of pocket expenses of £196.91 (the gross amount) so they would be right to recharge this amount plus 20% UK VAT. The contractor can only reclaim Irish VAT if i) they have an Irish VAT registration ...or...ii) they submit an EU VAT refund claim to the Irish tax office but there are minimum claims limits and timeframes for this. It's not reverse charge. You are a UK business and you engaged with another UK business, so invoices between two UK businesses would be subject to UK VAT. The purchase made in Ireland by the contractor appear properly charged with Irish VAT and would not fall under reverse charge either (place of supply of car hire is where it is used, contractor hires a car in Ireland, Irish VAT applies, hire car is refuelled, supply of goods takes place in Ireland, goods do not get exported out of Ireland, Irish VAT applies), contractor cannot reclaim Irish VAT so passes that whole cost onto you, contractor also required to charge UK VAT on their supply to you. Costs are also not a disbursement. Assuming you can reclaim the UK VAT charged by the contractor, you are no worse off than if you had gone to Ireland yourself and hired a car and you would have incurred the same Irish VAT costs. With regard the UK incurred expenses, where a contractor incurs a cost of say a UK hotel and contractor can reclaim this VAT, it is best practice to recharge the hotel cost as net plus VAT onto the customer (rather than taking the VAT inclusive gross price and adding VAT on top) although there is nothing in VAT legislation to stop a contractor adding VAT on top of a gross figure, that is down to what the T&C's of the contract/engagement state and if silent on expenses then the contractor could add VAT to gross incurred costs, in other words, the contractor can charge whatever they like as long as it is plus VAT. If the contractor is someone you will be using in the future, have a word, explain that its best if they reclaim the VAT on hotel and therefore they are only out of pocket by the net amount and to recharge the net amount plus VAT, but at end of day is down to them. But here, the contractor presumably cannot reclaim Irish VAT so the cost to them is the gross/Irish VAT inclusive price and as they are UK based they charge UK VAT on top of that.

When you do not file a VAT return, HMRC will estimate what they think you owe, the surcharge liability notice/letter you have received will demand payment of this estimated amount. The estimate is a formula based on the turnover you stated on your VAT registration application. The fact you have received an estimated liability means that you had a VAT return period where you did not file a VAT return (probably due to the delay in you receiving your VAT certificate in the post). Easiest solution is to file the outstanding return...it may have been that you requested to be registered from say August 2023 and HMRC issued you a VAT number in October 2023 sometime, but you did not get the letter/confirmation of VAT number until mid-November, by which time your first return may already have been due (likely covering the period August 2023 to October 2023). Calculate what sales you made in the VAT return period, don't forget to calculate any input tax on purchases that you are entitled to reclaim and then file that return, that filed return will then tell HMRC what the correct amount of VAT is for the period, it might be Nil (if no sales made), it might be a refund if you have purchases you are reclaiming VAT on, HMRC will then cancel the surcharge letter, cancel the estimated amount and replaced with the value shown on your submitted VAT return. If you don't owe any VAT to HMRC, then the whole matter corrects itself. if you do owe HMRC money then you make payment at time you file the return.

Residential rent is always exempt. If you say live in a flat above a shop, the shop rent might be plus VAT but cannot be plus VAT for the flat. Link here, section 12 notes even service charges are exempt when related to a dwelling. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-on-land-and-property-notice-742#section12 The rental agreement should not have even mentioned VAT, so you perhaps need a word with your landlord to find out why, they may have just assumed they had to charge VAT and not aware if the rules.

Just give my post a try - either go with the UK postcode or if that fails, click the "report issue" at bottom of that page and let the IT helpdesk look into it as it might be a database issue which you nor I can fix, only HMRC can fix. As an aside, in MS Teams you can make non-video calls (ie, voice only calls) so you could always try calling the HMRC helpline via MS Teams and that way avoid the international charges, calls would be via VoIP/internet.

Try using this postcode AB10 1ZP As you are a USA based entity (you are not a UK established company), you are known as a "Non-Established Taxable Person" (NETP). When any business which is not a UK established company registers for VAT, the address for the VAT registration that HMRC use internally is Ruby House, 8 Ruby Place, Aberdeen, Scotland. AB10 1ZP. This address is used by HMRC for VAT registrations related to non-UK companies. I've overseas clients who had the same problem as you, it was resolved by using the address that is on your VAT certificate, the address on your VAT certificate will be Ruby House, AB10 1ZP. Your VAT certificate should have been received to your offices in the USA via the post. if you have not yet received this in the post, you would not know the address on the certificate is in fact an address in Scotland (Aberdeen). If that doesn't work, on the screen where it states "we can't confirm your business", there is a "any problem with this page" link at the very bottom of the page/screen, click that, explain the problem using the online form and someone will reply with next steps/who to call/how to resolve.