Jay Cooke

Whilst the supply of services to overseas business customers is outside the scope of VAT, if you use that code in some accounting software, it does not show the net sale value in Box 6 (indeed, it will not appear on the VAt return at all). So generally, code such sales to zero rate so that the net value hits Box 6 but without affecting the output tax due. mentioned here in below Notice &700/12), section 3.6, second but last bullet point "supplies which are outside the scope of UK VAT as described in Place of supply of services (VAT Notice 741A)" https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-fill-in-and-submit-your-vat-return-vat-notice-70012 With regard goods, where the place of supply is determined by the location of the goods at time of dispatch, you do not need to record these on the UK VAT return, because you'll have declared those sales on the overseas VAT return. That may mean that your Box 6 on UK VAT return is not a true reflection of your actual turnover so you would need to factor that difference in when doing monthly reconciliation, etc.

What do you mean "provided in the UK"? If the goods have not left the UK and the German customer is using those goods here in the UK, then you are correct to charge UK VAT (you'll have no proof of export as the goods never left the UK and so you cannot zero rate). If you mean your stock in the UK has been shipped abroad/shipped outside of the UK, then more likely the invoice should be zero rated as an export, as long as you hold proof of export/goods leaving the UK. The servicing/maintenance is a service (not a supply of goods) and that element would potentially be outside the scope of VAT, but depends on if the goods that are being serviced are outside of the UK and also whether this could be seen as a single contract of goods + maintenance or if it is two separate supplies of 1) goods and 2) services, often depends on the contract wording (ie, is the servicing optional or mandatory, etc).

Depends what you mean by "design services"? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-place-of-supply-of-services-notice-741a covers the place of supply of services. Are these design services the design of a website, or interior design, or designing a health and safety at work plan, etc? Generally supply of services to a non-UK customer is outside the scope of VAT, that means turnover does not count towards VAT registration threshold in the UK, so you are probably not needing to register for VAT, You would not be a "UK established overseas exporter" as that refers to the movement of goods across borders, whereas you are supplying services across borders, goods and services have different rules in VAT.

You can only ever reclaim UK VAT on a UK VAT return, so whether it is NYC sales tax or Spanish VAT charged by a Spanish hotel, you cannot reclaim these on the UK VAT return, record them as gross amounts in Box 7. You may be able to reclaim EU VAT back by submitting a claim directly to the EU tax authority (in my Spanish hotel example you would submit a claim to the Spanish tax office under what are called 13th Directive regulation https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/vat-refunds_en As HMRC have posted, you will need to contact the USA tax authority to see what rules are in play for reclaiming sales taxes, not all sales taxes are recoverable. The key takeaway is you can't reclaim these foreign taxes on your UK VAT return.

Amr. You cannot reinstate your old VAT number, you have a couple of weeks from being deregistered to reinstate it, but here you deregistered in 2017 so your old VAT number is dead. You will have to submit a new VAT registration, which you have done in June 2023. HMRC have had severe backlog of VAT registrations and can take up to 3 months for them to look at and reply to, you can contact the 0300 322 7870 after 40 days of waiting from date of submission to HMRC. Yassinedr - As above, HMRC dealing with backlog of applications, they are working hard to reduce the processing time but still taking about 2-3 months to process, you can chase HMRC on the above number after 40 days.

It's always best to not lose VAT receipts, whilst HMRC will accept other forms of evidence, the burden of proof is high. Just because you have a bank statement that shows you spent £100.00 at PC World, it does not prove the goods were for a business purpose (did you buy a computer hard drive or the latest Call of Duty game, one is for business use the other isn't) nor does it prove the correct VAT applicable if for example you went to a DIY shop and bought some shelving, saw blades and bottled gas for patio heaters, the gas will have a different VAT rate to the other bits, how then do you split the cost between the shelves and the gas? You can't reclaim 20% of the total if a portion of the expenditure had a different VAT rate. HMRC may not be bothered checking a few missing receipts for a few pounds, but it does point towards system failures and if simple things like receipts are being lost, what other aspects of the business are failing to comply, my point being, see the alternative forms of evidence as a last resort/one off, and not as just a simpler way to reclaim VAT without the fuss of keeping paperwork.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-fill-in-and-submit-your-vat-return-vat-notice-70012#:~:text=Box%206%20total%20value%20of%20sales&text=You%20should%20also%20include%20the,ve%20entered%20in%20box%208. Section 3.7 explains what goes into Box 6.

If you believe HMRC have made an error and HMRC have given you the wrong registration date, then you MUST contact HMRC urgently - by telephone initially and then follow up in writing/email. Only email address I have to hand is vatchangeofcircs@hmrc.gov.uk or try the general VAT helpline. All sales you made from the date of registration will be caught by the VAT rules, so if you make UK sales of goods that are 20% or 5% VAT, then you will have to account for VAT on ALL of those sales from the date on the VAT certificate. In other words, if you thought you were registered from say January 2023 but the VAT certificate says January 2022, then you have to account for VAT on sales from January 2022, whether you intended for that to happen or not. If you have made an error and put the wrong date, again, contact HMRC urgently and you will probably need to write into HMRC and explain how the error happened - see here for more information https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-registration-manual/vatreg25350

You need to set up a new government gateway for the new company. https://www.access.service.gov.uk/login/signin/creds scroll down past the green "sign in" button and click the link for "create sign in details" The "old" gateway will still exist for the "old"/dissolved company because of historical record purposes. You cannot add new VAT numbers to that old gateway. HMRC do not give the date of registration out over the phone, you can ask them to issue a copy of the VAT certificate in the post, this will only be sent to the registered address of the new business. You will not be able to create a new gateway unless you know the date of registration, so request a copy, wait for the post and then sign up for a new gateway. Dates of registration are not given out over the phone to prevent fraud, copies of VAT certificate will only be sent to address used for the VAT registration, again, to protect from fraud....what might appear frustrating is there to protect.