Jay Cooke

You need a clear and robust contract. 1. if you are acting as PRINCIPAL, you are buying in the services of the 2nd photographer and then charging that to the customer as your own supply, in this scenario the fee you charge for the 2nd photographer is your turnover, whether you add a markup or not. 2. If you are acting as AGENT, you are acting as an agent between customer and 2nd photographer, the contract is between customer and 2nd photographer but your acting as agent brings together the customer and the 2nd photographer and you facilitate the arrangement, an agent usually charges a fee or commission to the customer or the supplier for their efforts but they do not have to charge a commission or fee for their agency. A good example of an agent is eBay, they don't sell anything at all, they just facilitate a sale between seller and buyer. If you do not have a contract that clearly explains your role (as agent), then HRC will assume you are a principal, buying in services yourself and selling them on your own name and HMRC will want VAT on all of that turnover (yours and the recharge for the 2nd photographer). You should speak with your accountant as you may currently already be seen as making supplies as principal if you don't already have a contract clearly stating your agency status. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-taxable-person/vtaxper36500

Where the USA or EU business customer is paying for admission to an event, then you are correct, the admission is a "where performed" supply and is subject to UK VAT regardless of where the customer is based and your invoices would therefore include VAT. The USA customers may be able to reclaim this VAT directly from HMRC. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-refunds-for-non-eu-businesses-visiting-the-uk I think be careful of "sponsorship", I see that as the sponsor having their branding/logo on course/event materials, a banner at the front of the venue. That kind of sponsorship is advertising, place of supply is where the customer is based, if customer not UK, supply is outside the scope of VAT/reverse charge.....but you then mention sponsorship "exhibit including physical attendance" which is different to "sponsorship", have a look at Ntoice 741a, section 7.5 "stand space at an exhibition or conference when supplied as part of a package with related services that enable the exhibitor to promote their goods or services (for example design, security, power, telecommunications, and so on)....is NOT a land related supply" So if it is not a land related supply and not a where performed service (because where performed services only applies to admission to an event) then the default rule applies and is supplied where the customer is/outside the scope of VAT. You need to be clear as to what you are selling, pure sponsorship is outside the scope, hiring a stand at an event is outside the scope if to a B2B customer, admission to an event is standard rated, so maybe you need to set clear rules when you are selling, either a sponsor gets x number of tickets to attend with every stand booking or else they can buy the admission at a discounted rate perhaps but separate to the sponsorship/stand package. if the package includes admission and stand space then you have to split the invoice to reflect the standard rated entrance element and outside scope stand element or invoice separate or as my suggestion, sell the package in such a way as to keep the various supplies separate.

This usually means your return has been selected for an Officer to review and check the validity of the return/refund. There does seem to be a delay at present for these to be allocated to an officer, who will then contact the business to arrange for further information to be sent. You should get either a letter in the post or an email, obviously waiting for the letter will delay things further and if the letter is being sent to an overseas address then expect further delay before receipt of letter. Check your spam filter in case an email from HMRC has been blocked. There is nothing much you can do to speed things up, HMRC are entitled to review your return at any time and whilst HMRC aim to work within a 30 working day timeframe, if it takes longer then it can be frustrating but is the nature of being a business with regular refunds.

A garage is not a residential property (except when it is sold alongside a dwelling), you have stated you have only purchased a garage. It is possible the seller has classified the garages as commercial on the basis they are no longer associated with or linked with residential property. The sale of a garage/commercial property would be exempt from VAT unless the seller has opted to tax, whereupon the garage/commercial property would be subject to VAT (20%). The sales listing at auction should have stated whether the property was opted to tax or not and the reserve price/listing price should also have stated whether VAT was applicable or not. This question is more a contractual/legal issue, whether VAT should have been charged will be a matter of fact. If your solicitor is stating the sale is "plus VAT" (ie, VAT added on top of the hammer price), then ask the solicitor to point out where this is stated in the auction listing/sale T&C's. If the seller insist on charging VAT, I would certainly insist and ask for the seller to provide a copy of their option to tax certificate or some other proof that the garages have ben opted to tax, else if seller cannot prove VAT is applicable on the sale - this asking for proof of option from the seller is standard practice when buying commercial properties and the solicitor should know to ask for this proof or else enter into a debate as to withholding the VAT element until evidence is supplied. As a common or garden member of the public, you are charged VAT everyday on things you buy, a dwelling would usually be an exempt supply (no VAT) and a dwelling purchased with a garage would also be exempt, but a garage on its own, a lockup or some other storage type building would be exempt unless opted to tax and the seller/owner decides whether they want to opt to tax or not and to opt to tax they MUST write to HMRC and notify HMRC in writing, so if the seller has opted to tax, they will have evidence that they have notified HMRC.

That link refers to the supplies of welfare retreats being an exempt supply, that is, when a church charges a fee to attend the retreat, the retreat is deemed to be an exempt supply (no VAT to be charged on the retreat fee to the customer). There is no "relief" to claim, nothing is claimed, if you are asking this question as a customer, the church should not be charging VAT on their retreat fee. If you are asking the question as a church raising an invoice to a customer, your invoice is exempt/no VAT charged. A church that makes an exempt supply, the church cannot reclaim input tax on costs associated with the retreat and the church may need a partial exemption calculation to ensure it correctly reclaims the right amount of input tax to reflect only its taxable (VATable) sales.,

Submitting "several" VAT returns in December suggests that you have filed more than one return and this would mean all of those returns were filed late. HMRC will always review and verify VAT returns where there is i) a refund due, ii) returns have ben filed late and there are other reasons that are not relevant here. The verification of refund returns can take some time, usually they are reviewed within 30 working days but they can take longer, especially if you have filed several returns at once as all of the returns will need to be verified to ensure that the returns are correct and the the refund is valid. Call the VAT general helpline https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/vat-enquiries and ask if they can confirm the returns are received and if they can confirm the returns have ben allocated to a reviewing officer.

HMRC send the VAT number in the post as this is a security check that confirms the business address is legitimate. If the business/trading address that you have given is correct and is an address you are at and able to receive post, then there is nothing HMRC can do if the postal system at your end is not working correctly. HMRC do not and never have given VAT numbers over the telephone as that would defeat the purpose of the security protocol of sending VAT certificates in the post......there is a bigger issue here, if you cannot receive a VAT certificate, how would you receive other letters from HMRC such as penalty notices or reminders or updates relating to changes in UK VAT law? You have listed the things you have done to check your address is correct, but you assume HMRC are at fault for not sending the letters. have you checked with your local postal office to see if there is an issue locally, do you share an address with other businesses, is someone intercepting your mail without your knowledge? Five requests and all getting lost would indicate a system failure in the postal system rather than HMRC failing to issue a copy of the letter. It is frustrating but this is the process HMRC operate to protect from fraud. You can always submit a formal complaint https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-hmrc and that may see you being contacted and the matter resolved.

HMRC are not going to give you an answer on a public forum.
You can write to HMRC and request a "non-statutory clearance" where you will write with site plans, diagrams, detailed explanation of what use the new building will be put to, etc.
Link below https://www.gov.uk/guidance/non-statutory-clearance-service-guidance
What do you mean by "Multi-use", the word "pavilion" usually suggests a sporting (cricket), which would suggest the primary purpose is of a cricket ground, so do you charge a rent or fee for accessing the sports pitch?
HMRC internal manuals make comment on village halls and sporting facilities https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-construction/vconst16600
You may also want to Google "sports pavilions", VAT tribunal" and that should list a variety of websites which highlight various VAT tribunal cases, I can't link you to them here as only HMRC links can be placed into posts, but be mindful that each case is unique to its own facts. You state the village hall will never be used for business purposes, so that would suggest you do not charge a fee for use of the hall, so how does the charity generate income, is it all donations?
Point being, be careful with the definition of "non-business", even if you just charge a nominal peppercorn fee then HMRC may still see that as business.
Not saying the village hall cannot be zero rated but as Trustees of the charity you have a fiduciary duty, so whilst you may think you are "saving" £3k on consultancy fees, the risk is if you spend say £100k on a new build, then if you get this wrong, the charity will be potentially on the hook for £20k VAT so consider all he risks not just the savings. I think £3,500 is a little on the high side though.

Your supply is of Psychotherapy, your specialism is not on a recognised medical register. See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/health-professionals-pharmaceutical-products-and-vat-notice-70157 and specifically section 2.2 which explains why Psychotherapy is not an exempt supply. Your supply is either directly to the patient (you bill the patient) or your supply is to the clinic (you bill the clinic for your time and the clinic bills the patient), but either way you need only look at what you supply, don't worry about what the clinic's VAT status is. What matters is that your supplies to whoever (clinic or patient) are not exempt because you are not on a medical register recognised for VAT exemption, so you bill either the patient or the clinic plus VAT. Neither patient nor clinic can reclaim VAT so be aware of that. You should probably speak with an Accountant if you've not already got one, registering for VAT suggests turnover of at least £90k and a sole trader structure may or may not be best for you (depends on where the other 60% of income comes from) but you might want to think about personal tax vs corporate tax liabilities and also personal liability should a patient sue you (personally as a sole trader or sue the Ltd company which is not you), but we stray way off topic now.

You pretend you are filling the form in when it should have been filled in, December 2023. So ignore the £90k figure as that is clearly a value meant for people who are registering at the right time/current time, the answer is December 2023 is when the threshold was breached (because in December 2023 the threshold was £85k).