VAT on Non-EU imports

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Completely hypothetical question....

Company A (based in the UK) employs IndiaTech Industries to supply, install, and support a piece of Software. IndiaTech sends invoices in from its HQ in Mumbai which Company A pays in sterling. there is no VAT or sales tax on these invoices.

Does Company A have to account for VAT?

All advice gratefully received

[sgrimshaw]

Countdown said:

Completely hypothetical question....

Company A (based in the UK) employs IndiaTech Industries to supply, install, and support a piece of Software. IndiaTech sends invoices in from its HQ in Mumbai which Company A pays in sterling. there is no VAT or sales tax on these invoices.

Does Company A have to account for VAT?

All advice gratefully received

Is IndiaTech supplying to Customer A's customers or to Customer A itself?

If to Customer A's customers, where are they based?

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sgrimshaw said:

Is IndiaTech supplying to Customer A's customers or to Customer A itself?

Customer A itself.

IndiaTech's technical people fly in, stay in a hotel for 3-4 days, and do programming stuff at A's offices. They also do a lot of stuff remotely from India. Invoices come from India and are paid via CHAPS.

[sgrimshaw]

Countdown said:

Customer A itself.

IndiaTech's technical people fly in, stay in a hotel for 3-4 days, and do programming stuff at A's offices. They also do a lot of stuff remotely from India. Invoices come from India and are paid via CHAPS.

I suspect Company A should account for VAT under "reverse charge" rules.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-not...

Best advice would be for Company A to seek clarification from their Accountants / HMRC.

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sgrimshaw said:

I suspect Company A should account for VAT under "reverse charge" rules.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-not...

Best advice would be for Company A to seek clarification from their Accountants / HMRC.

Yep - that's what I suspect as well.

Sadly A is not VAT registered so won't be able to reclaim input VAT

[sgrimshaw]

Countdown said:

Yep - that's what I suspect as well.

Sadly A is not VAT registered so won't be able to reclaim input VAT

In that case they cannot reverse charge, so there's no issue .... no VAT to recover

[KevinCamaroSS]

Countdown said:

Sadly A is not VAT registered so won't be able to reclaim input VAT

You surprise me, if they are doing all that then I would expect their turnover to be above the compulsory registration level.

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KevinCamaroSS said:

You surprise me, if they are doing all that then I would expect their turnover to be above the compulsory registration level.

They're VAT registered but make Exempt supplies. (It's a charity)

ETA even if they weren't registered for VAT they would still have to reverse charge themselves VAT......

[sgrimshaw]

Countdown said:

They're VAT registered but make Exempt supplies. (It's a charity)

ETA even if they weren't registered for VAT they would still have to reverse charge themselves VAT......

How can you reverse charge yourself if not registered for VAT ... how would you report to HMRC ?

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sgrimshaw said:

Countdown said:

They're VAT registered but make Exempt supplies. (It's a charity)

ETA even if they weren't registered for VAT they would still have to reverse charge themselves VAT......

How can you reverse charge yourself if not registered for VAT ... how would you report to HMRC ?

'
AIUI the "reverse charge" system would put them over the VAT threshold..... I'm not 100% sure how this works but the guy talking about it is a VAT Director for the Big 4.