Jay Cooke

An annoying part of the VAT legislation is that an "exemption" is not the same as saying a supply is "exempt". Not your fault, blame the legislators. Your supply will either be standard rated/UK VAT charged or else outside the scope of VAT. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-rules-if-you-supply-digital-services-to-private-consumers In essence if your customer is B2B then your supply is outside the scope of VAT, no VAT is charged on your invoice and customer in UK accounts for VAT themselves under reverse charge rules. If customer is B2C, then you are required to register for UK VAT and charge UK VAT. When reading the above link/guidance, read it carefully and in full, not just bits of it. For example, the first section states "If you are a business making supplies of digital services to UK consumers, those supplies are liable to UK VAT", which is correct, but note it refers to a "consumer" which means B2C, you have to read much further down by stating "If you accept that your customer is in business, the supply does not come within the scope of these business-to-consumer arrangements. With a cross-border business-to-business supply the customer will be responsible for accounting for any VAT due to the tax authorities in their country."

Yes, you need to manually add the VAT service to your government gateway/account. When manually adding the VAT service, the question asking if you have submitted a return or not, your answer is no (because you've not filed a return as yet), there is no further question about your last VAT return, in fact this should be the last question it asks you, so answer "no" and as long as all your other answers are correct (date of registration, postcode of business, etc) then it'll add the VAT service straight away. I agree it's not logical, you applied for VAT via your gateway, during the application it states you'll be automatically enrolled for MTD and then once the VAT number is issued, you have to manually add the VAT service to your gateway.

The place of supply of services rules are what you need, Brexit has not changed those rules (so the same place of supply rules for services that you use in Netherlands, are the same rules the UK uses). Default position is the place of supply of services (when B2B) is where the customer is based, so your sale would be outside the scope of Netherlands VAT and the customer is to account for VAT under reverse charge in the UK. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as if your services related to land (geological surveys for example) or if you are hosting an event/exhibition in the UK. You don't mention what services you are offering but am assuming they fall under the default rules. The UK customer who is VAT registered would receive your invoice and reverse charge on their UK VAT return, the UK customer who is not VAT registered, your invoice to them would also be reverse charge and count towards their (the UK customers) VAT registration threshold. There is no requirement for you to register for UK VAT unless you are offering land/exhibition related services. HMRC guidance on place of supply of services https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-place-of-supply-of-services-notice-741a

Are you sure the address you are using is correct (ie, the address for the UTR and the address as per Companies House, they match what you are typing onto the screen for the VAT registration application?). It is usually the address that causes the issue (ie, registered office may be different to trade address), also check that the company name you are typing in is exactly as per Companies House (for example if you are Limited or Ltd or Ltd. (full stop at end). Failing that, it might be an IT glitch, at the bottom of the page where it says "the detail entered do not match...." there is a "problem with this page?" prompt, click on that and you can send a message to HMRC IT, explain your problem and someone should email you back with potential solutions.

You would treat the sales invoice to the UK customer as a zero rated sale as you have proof of export/goods left the UK. The value on your sales invoice would be the gross amount/cost to you, which would be the net price you quoted for the goods plus the 23% Irish VAT and the freight agents handling fee. So for example if the goods were valued at £1,000 we add £230 Irish VAT to give a gross value of £1,230 and this goes into Box 6 of the UK VAT return as the net value and £Nil for Box 1 as it has been treated as a zero rated export in your VAT return. In other words, treat as a zero rated export but make sure you inflate the price to cover the cost of the irrecoverable Irish VAT.

Agree, this is becoming both a major issue/hinderance to businesses. The whole foundation of VAT is based on the ability to check that a supplier is VAT registered and not trying to commit fraud. The right to reclaim input tax is on the basis the invoices are correctly issued. Such checks and confidence cannot be achieved when nobody can rely upon the answers supplied by the online VAT checker. How does this work for those who want to import goods into the UK if the freight agents can't verify VAT numbers, online marketplaces will not allow you trade unless you have a VAT number and they will use the VAT checker to verify your status (OMP's rarely accept just a VAT certificate alone as that just means you were VAT registered in the past, not necessarily today) The UK economy shrank by 0.3% last quarter (in the news today), what proportion of that is down to traders waiting for VAT numbers or having valid VAT number that others can check? After nearly a year the problem should have been fixed by now (it used to work until the switch to the new platform, it's a platform issue). Sorry to moan HMRC Admin, not your fault I know, but this really is hurting traders, if they can't sell, they can't pay VAT or other taxes and HMRC's only purpose is to collect/protect the revenue, and this issue is doing neither.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/vat-energy-saving-materials-relief-improving-energy-efficiency-and-reducing-carbon-emissions/outcome/summary-of-responses Battery storage will be included in the zero rating, with effect February 2024. Note that a zero rate of VAT does not mean suppliers will lower their prices, often suppliers will keep the price the same or reduce price slightly, studies have indicated that introducing a zero rate does not equal a significant reduction in price (ie, cost of living, inflation, material price rises and similar often counter act any cut in VAT).

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.