VAT number required on Subscription Form

[surveyor]

I have had to update card details on a subscription service.

The business in it's current form is not VAT registered unlike it's previous life.

The US based service insists on a VAT number with payment details. Given that there is no requirement for businesses to register (other than the threshold), it seems odd.

[User name]

Contact them?
or just put N/A?

[surveyor]

Contact them tells me I need a VAT number...

N/A tells me not accepted.

Apparently anyone's VAT number will do and it's their legal requirement and not mine....

[Eric Mc]

I There is no VAT in the US. Why do they want a VAT number?

[surveyor]

beats me. They just insist that their accounts software insist on a vat number.

I've given in, They have a vat number. I can't see it on the receipt so hopefully will not come back to haunt me.

[Eric Mc]

Depends on whether there was some valid VAT related reason they needed it. If you gave them a made up number just to shut them up, that could cause you problems later on.

[surveyor]

Eric Mc said:

Depends on whether there was some valid VAT related reason they needed it. If you gave them a made up number just to shut them up, that could cause you problems later on.

indeed. I wish their was an answer that made some sense.

[skwdenyer]

surveyor said:

Eric Mc said:

Depends on whether there was some valid VAT related reason they needed it. If you gave them a made up number just to shut them up, that could cause you problems later on.

indeed. I wish their was an answer that made some sense.

Many US digital subscription services in my experience use VAT number as proxy for business registration, and use it to allow them to reverse charge VAT to you rather than any other method. They don't want to process VAT themselves.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-sup... in case you're interested - a US-based provider of subscription services to UK consumers would need to register via the MOSS, charge VAT, etc.

[Smiler.]

skwdenyer said:

Many US digital subscription services in my experience use VAT number as proxy for business registration, and use it to allow them to reverse charge VAT to you rather than any other method. They don't want to process VAT themselves.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-sup... in case you're interested - a US-based provider of subscription services to UK consumers would need to register via the MOSS, charge VAT, etc.

This caused no end of hassle to last years accounts with the "you may be required to account for VAT under the reverse charge mechanism".

Not how to account for it, but identifying when to.