CB Taxteam

Hello, In short, my employer is looking for further guidance on the terms mentioned in the topic of this threat. This is specifically mentioned here by HMRC: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-rules-if-you-supply-digital-services-to-private-consumers#third-party. In UK VAT law we have found a mention of an "online marketplace" here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/23/section/95A, but it only seems to be applicable to the sale of (physical?) goods, whereas our case deals with digital services. We are wondering who is responsible for UK VAT in the case of digital services (not goods) sold via a digital shopping cart solution (with invoice generation and payment services). For us, the terms "portal" and "marketplace" imply these rules are aiming at companies like Amazon/Uber/AirBnB, where many sellers are shown to a potential customer and the customer can chose from a selection. In the case of a shopping cart solution, the customer already starts on the seller's website and the shopping cart solution is provided by a third-party service provider. Essentially, instead of developing a shopping cart function and all the necessary other functions of selling digital services to end customers, the seller asks a third-party service provider to perform these functions for them, and the seller is still being shown as the seller to the customer on invoices. Is the provider of the shopping cart solution a "portal, gateway or marketplace"? Especially the word "gateway" seems undefined, which makes it hard for us to properly determine the VAT liability. Thanks in advance.

Hi HMRC Admin 21, Thank you, we had already studied these sections and, as far as we understand, they don't refer to digital platforms. Therefore, can you confirm that no further guidance exists as to the meaning of "authorise the charge to the consumer"?

Hi, The situation is a bit different since my company is providing digital intermediary services between service providers and customers. We are not a traditional platform as, say, Uber or AirBnB. You might think of my company as a digital shopping-cart solution. We offer the services sold via our system in our own name and, therefore, are already registered for VAT in the UK and pay UK VAT to HMRC. The question we have is for a new business venture where the plan is to _not_ sell services in our own name anymore and give service providers the chance to "rent" our services. For example if the service provider only wants us to issue invoices and collect money from customers. We are currently evaluating if UK marketplace rules will require us to collect UK VAT in these cases as well. One item that requires clarification for us is the issue of authorization of the charge to the customer.

Hi, My company is currently debating a new business strategy that would, maybe, put us at risk of being subject to marketplace rules. Under https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-rules-if-you-supply-digital-services-to-private-consumers#third-party it says that VAT liability shifts to the marketplace facilitator in case that company does "authorise the charge to the consumer". We are looking for a definition of what exactly that means. Does anyone have insight or access to relevant materials? As an alternative, does anyone have confirmation that these rules are the same as in the EU? Did they remain unchanged from the time Britain was still part of EU?

Hello, We are a foreign entity registered for VAT in the UK because we render electronic services to customers. We seek guidance on the following case. We are currently contemplating to stop asking our B2C customers for their full address. Instead, we would only ask them to confirm the country. Therefore, on such an invoice it would only say the customer's name and their country. Again, we are talking about private (not UK-VAT registered) customers. Is this allowed for us? Thanks you in advance for your help.