In another move to help businesses the government announced that VAT registered businesses can defer any VAT payments due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020. There is no application process required to defer the relevant payment. Howeve... Read More

It has been confirmed that the taxable turnover threshold, that determines whether businesses should be registered for VAT, will be frozen at £85,000 until 31 March 2022. The taxable turnover threshold that determines whether businesses can app... Read More

There are special VAT rules that allow businesses to standard rate the supply of most non-residential and commercial land and buildings (known as the option to tax). This means that subsequent supplies by the person making the option to tax will be s... Read More

The VAT treatment of land and property is one of the most complex areas of the VAT legislation. Under certain situations, supplies of building materials can be zero-rated or reduced-rated at 5% for VAT. For the supplies of building materials to be z... Read More

The VAT system is policed by HMRC and there are penalties for breaches of the legislation. There are four conditions that must be satisfied in order for an activity to be within the scope of UK VAT. These conditions are that the activity: Is a s... Read More

There is a special VAT refund scheme called the VAT Retail Export Scheme or Tax-Free Shopping that allows individuals not resident in the EU to obtain a VAT refund on goods bought in the UK and taken out of the EU. The scheme does not apply to servic... Read More

If you have clients that have been adversely affected by the new 'limited cost trader' test that was introduced on 1 April 2017, you should consider whether it will be more beneficial for them to leave the VAT Flat Rate Scheme (FRS) and rever... Read More

Where an error on a past VAT return is uncovered, you have a duty to correct the error as soon as possible. As a general rule, you can use your current VAT return to make any necessary adjustment. However, there are three important conditions that mu... Read More

The VAT Flat Rate Scheme (FRS) has been designed to simplify the way a business accounts for VAT and in so doing reduce the administration costs of complying with the VAT legislation. The scheme is open to businesses that expect their annual taxable... Read More

When a VAT registered business issues an invoice to their customer, they must seek to ensure that they charge the correct rate of VAT. Whilst most businesses in the UK charge VAT at the standard rate of 20%, there are a number of different VAT rates... Read More

The VAT Flat Rate scheme (FRS) has been designed to simplify the way a business accounts for VAT and accordingly, reducing the administration costs of complying with the VAT legislation. VAT is calculated under the FRS by applying a flat rate pe... Read More

VAT retail schemes are a special set of schemes used by retail businesses to account for VAT.  The schemes are usually used by businesses that sell a significant amount of low value and/or small quantity items to the public with different VAT li... Read More