I've got a client who is a sole trader from the UK, doing work for a branch of a UK company in France. He basically repairs/fits things to (very expensive!) yachts over in France, and then invoices either the French or the UK branch for payment. He is approaching the UK VAT limit, and has asked if he needs to register for VAT.
Firstly - does anyone have any advice on whether he should register over here? Is it a case that he has to register, but then not charge them VAT and be able to claim back VAT on all his inputs? Secondly - if he doesn't have to register over here, does he have to consider registering for TVA in France? If so, has anyone got any clients that have had to do this? I can't find much information about it (even who to call in France for advice...!). I'm assuming HMRC won't be of much use as they will probably tell me they only deal with UK tax.
Just been doing a bit of the ol' googling, and found this;
'When To Register For UK VAT'
You supply goods or services from the UK to other countries
If you supply goods and services both inside and outside the UK, then you may need to register for UK VAT if the value of your UK supplies alone exceeds the registration threshold. (he has next to no UK supplies)
You don't need to include supplies you make in other countries when calculating your VAT taxable turnover for registration purposes - so leave out of your calculation any goods and services you supply where the place of supply is another country rather than the UK.
Doesn't this lean towards him not having to register in the UK? Or would he do so purely for the benefit of being able to charge zero rated VAT and then claim back VAT on expenses etc.
-- Edited by fin6y on Friday 31st of August 2012 10:06:32 AM
Just spoke to HMRC (who I assumed wouldn't speak to me because we don't have authorisation but apparently I didn't need it!)
They have confirmed he doesn't need to register for VAT over here, but could do if he wanted for the benefit of being able to not charge the French company VAT but claiming back input tax.
I definitely think that he should register for VAT in the UK. Please look at my VAT & Customs training courses if you want to increase you knowledge to be able to advise your clients on the more complicated issues of inter community supplies etc. There is more than the VAT registration issue here. Please download my complimentary VAT book www.thevatlady.co.uk
I don't think that it's just the Ipad. I've raised it with Site admin this morning that there also seems to be a problem with Firefox 15.0 (latest version) but everything is working fine with IE9.
Personally I prefer working in Firefox with a semi broken site (the green menu bar is floating) rather than IE.
Hope that the issues are resolved soon but I know that site admin are in the process of an office move so wouldn't hold my breath for a resolution to happen today.
kindest regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
