Yasmin Harper

Thank you Jason for your reply - I think in the end I had come to the conclusion that your explanation must be what is happening. Another person I spoke to here in France who was already registered for VAT in the UK said she found that her address was changed to the Aberdeen address on her reg certificate. Both of us are Brits in France, so if even we find it difficult, I hate to think how others manage! In fact I just had another non-British person ask me for feedback on how to do it all as she can't figure out how to apply for UK VAT at all. Other countries that have a requirement for VAT registration have dedicated web pages for foreign-based e-commerce businesses with step by step instructions, I don't know why HMRC can't do the same, it would make it so much easier for small businesses like us.

Hi again, yes, when someone else mentioned this to me a few days ago I had Googled this office to try and find the address, and the only office in Aberdeen that I could find had closed in 2021. Was going to mention that, but wasn't sure as so many people were saying that Ruby House was the address for NETP's. I can only imagine that as this office has closed, they are now just using people's actual address, but no-one at HMRC seems to know this as they keep saying you should use the default UK postcode on your certificate. It's quite interesting that no-one from HMRC has actually commented on this thread to give any advice....

Customs oldtimer - thanks for your reply. Yes, after much searching and also talking to another business like me, I found that this was the case for them. However, as I said in my post above and as I have now told the HMRC technical team 3 times (who seem unable to grasp what I am saying, despite having sent them a PDF of my reg. certificate 3 times), the Aberdeen address is not on my certificate or anywhere else on my account. It shows only my French address. I am not certain why people keep ignoring what I am saying and just telling me to use the UK postcode on the certificate! Anyway, the matter has now been solved, I had also emailed the EORI team direct who have today responded and sent me my EORI number.

Further to the above, I also emailed the technical team who told me to use the default UK postcode on my VAT certificate. To be clear, there is no default UK postcode on my VAT certificate, only my French address with my French postcode is shown. If there is in fact a default postcode that overseas traders should use, then please advise what it is, thanks.

I have an e-commerce business in France and have now registered for UK VAT in order to be able to sell to customers in the UK. For this I understand that I also need a UK EORI number. I received my VAT number yesterday in the post, and also received an email from the EORI team a couple of weeks ago. This just said that if I wanted to engage in international trade, then I would need to apply for an EORI number and gave the link https://www.gov.uk/eori/apply-for-eori. Despite the fact that I ticked the box to say my business was outside the UK, and that I entered an address in France, and that I gave my VAT number which is registered to this address in France, it then asks me to give the UK postcode that the number is registered to! It won't allow me to leave this box blank or enter my French postcode. Can anyone advise how then I am supposed to get a UK EORI number? Am I missing something? Thanks in advance for any help,