Jay Cooke

If you visit here https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-vat-number and enter your VAT number, the address shown will be the address you use for setting up the government gateway.

Your business should have its own government gateway. I'm a tax agent, what happens with a client is we link our agent gateway to the clients gateway, we do that by going onto our agent gateway and inputting the VAT number/registration date of the client, that then generates an email link which we cut/paste and send to the client. The client then logs into their own gateway using the link we have sent and the client than "approves" us as agent and then we (agent) are linked to the client's gateway, this allows us to file VAT returns for the client. My point is, you will have your own gateway, we cannot link our agent gateway to nothing, we have to link it to another gateway, the client cannot "authorise us as agent" unless the client is logged into their own gateway. Now it might be that the Accountant set that client gateway up for you - certainly when I do a VAT registration for an overseas business, I create a gateway for them and share the login details with them so they always have their own access to their own gateway but by me setting it up, it just helps them out as English may not be their first language and HMRC website can be daunting for overseas businesses. The fact the agent has linked their account (and now delinked) would suggest you do have a gateway, question is did the Accountants set it up or did you/someone at your business? You can call the HMRC IT VAT Helpline https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/vat-online-services-helpdesk and go through the security measures to prove your identify and then ask if HMRC can unlink the VAT account from the "other" gateway. But I'd go back to the Accountant first and double check what they have said, they may think that you just wanted confirmation they unlinked their account, but what you are asking for is "did you create a government gateway for me, if so, what are the login details", if they say they never set up a gateway for you, then you'll have to call the helpline as per above link.

What do you mean when you say you "input the VAT return just after midnight"....you cannot file VAT return manually by inputting numbers onto a VAT return, they can only be filed via accounting software. Two exceptions to that, you have special approval to file VAT returns manually (inputting values by keying them into the VAT return boxes) or if this is your final VAT return just before deregistration. That the software is stating a duplicate return would suggest the return has been submitted, it can take 24hours for HMRC systems to update, but that updating takes place overnight, so if you file after midnight, may not show up until the following day.

Thanks HMRC Admin 10, have contacted helpline and actioned.

Feedback .

Whilst waiting for HMRC Admin to reply.... For triangulation, you need three parties (hence the "tri"), all three parties need to be in the EU. So assuming you are looking at say a French customer places an order with you and you order the item from a German supplier and you are using your Irish VAT number to place the order with the German supplier and German supplier ships the goods direct to French customer....then this sale takes place outside of the UK and would not be recorded on the UK VAT return as the sale is nothing to do with the UK (from a VAT perspective, goods are in Germany, going to France via Irish intermediary).

"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.

I'm a tax agent. Have submitted four VAT registrations recently for companies, all have had VAT numbers issued but in the name of the person (treated as a sole trader), not the company. I can't change the legal status via the online gateway, the VAT number has been incorrectly issued by HMRC because the applications were made as companies, not as sole traders. HMRC has an obligation to correct their errors. HMRC know of this technical issue. How do I change the VAT status from sole trader to corporate/company? I can't send a VAT484 as HMRC no longer accepting them, and I can't amend via gateway as it only lets me change trading name. I've emailed vrs.newregistrations@hmrc.gov.uk and btc.changeoflegalentity@hmrc.gov.uk and vatchangeofcircs@hmrc.gov.uk and not had a reply from any of these, it has been more than two weeks and none of the clients can import goods because the VAT number/EORI is in the wrong name. Can you advise on which team to contact to get these errors corrected? Thank you.

Renting/letting a flat (apartment/condo/house) is not subject to VAT (VAT exempt), this means you cannot charge VAT on rent to tenants in flats/dwellings and you cannot register for VAT or reclaim VAT on costs incurred. VAT is correctly charged by the managing agent because property letting is a "land related supply" and the place of supply for land related services is where the land is, the land is in the UK, so UK VAT applies regardless of where you, the customer, is based. If you have repairs to the property, the contractors/workers will charge VAT if they (the contractor) is VAT registered, if the contractor is not VAT registered then they will not charge VAT. Link here to place of supply of land (section 7). https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-place-of-supply-of-services-notice-741a#sec7

The freight agents or senders will use whatever EORI number you have given them.....so if you have not told them that you are no longer trading under (old EORI), then how will they know you are now operating under a new VAT/EORI number? Also, if C79's are still being generated, this would suggest you have not de-registered the old company for VAT/not cancelled the EORI number.....it should not be possible for a C79 to be generated against an invalid (deregistered) VAT number, so unless it is a glitch, it looks like you've not deregistered the old company for VAT/cancelled the EORI. If you've forgot to deregister then suggest you action this urgently. It is also possible that because C79's are issued 45 days or so after the import, that there may be one or two C79's that relate to the old company/old EORI is also a possibility.