Happy New Year! My client is being invited to build/install one of his prefabricated structures outside the EU. The customer is not an EU-based company.
Client will claim input tax on the components he buys and prepares here. He won't apply VAT to the sales invoice for installing the structure abroad.
The above seems straightforward, but does anyone know of any other issues I need to be aware of, like special reporting?
In rootling around since, though, I've found no tax issues beyond what you'd expect, but I did uncover a whole area of registration and process regarding EORI and exporting. Anyone with clients in similar situations might be interested in this. For me, it explains the value of having an impex agent!
The description of the service puts it near the borderline under the Place of Supply rules. You should read Brief 22/12 at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/vat/brief2212.htm, and the related Notice 741A. My initial thinking is that the place of supply, whether under the general rule (where the customer is established) or the 'services relating to land' rule (where the land is situated) would both put the service outside the scope of UK (and EU) VAT. You should make sure there is adequate evidence of the location of the land, to pre-empt any HMRC question. And, you can still claim the VAT as input tax!
