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There are special VAT rules that allow two or more corporate bodies to be treated as a single taxable person for VAT purposes. This is known as a VAT group. Eligible persons are bodies corporate, individuals, partnerships and Scottish partnerships, provided certain conditions are satisfied. Bodies corporate includes companies of all types and limited liability partnerships.

Under a VAT group registration, the representative member accounts for any tax due on supplies made by the group to third parties outside the group. This is particularly helpful for those whose accounting is centralised. As a VAT group is treated as a single taxable person, they do not normally account for VAT on goods or services supplied between group members. Only one VAT return is required for the whole group and all members of the group are jointly and severally liable for the tax due from the representative member.

There are other important points to be aware of in respect of a VAT group registration. For example, the representative member must have all the necessary information to submit a VAT return for the group by the due date. The partial exemption de minimis limits apply to the group as a whole and not the members individually.

The VAT liability of the supply of driving lessons is an interesting issue that can be of relevance to other supply scenarios such as hairdressers and other workers in the beauty industry. 

In HMRC’s internal manuals the guidance identifies three possible scenarios that can apply to someone providing driving lessons to the public:

• The driving school employs its own instructors under contracts of service. HMRC comments that this method is probably only used in a minority of cases. When this is the case, the driving school is supplying the tuition to its pupils and must account for output tax on the full value of fees received. The driving school is making the supply of tuition to its customers and there is no supply by the individual instructors, who are simply receiving remuneration (wages) for their services as employees. 
• The instructors supply their services to the school under a contract of services. They need only account for output tax on these supplies if the value exceeds the registration limits. The school must account for output tax on the full value of the fees received from pupils.
• Each individual instructor supplies tuition services directly to their pupils using the driving school as an agent. Output tax is only due on the value of those supplies if an instructor exceeds the registration limits. However, payment made by each instructor to the school is consideration for a supply of agency services by the school, and the school must declare output tax accordingly. 

The transfer of a business as a going concern (TOGC) rules cover the VAT liability on the sale of a business. Normally the sale of the assets of a VAT registered or VAT registerable business will be subject to VAT at the appropriate rate.

Where the sale of a business includes assets and meets certain conditions, the sale will be categorised as a TOGC. A TOGC is defined as 'neither a supply of goods nor a supply of services' and is therefore outside the scope of VAT. Under the TOGC rules no VAT would be chargeable on a qualifying sale.

All the following conditions are necessary for the TOGC rules to apply:

• The assets must be sold as part of a 'business' as a 'going concern'. In essence, the business must be operating as such and not just an 'inert aggregation of assets'.
• The purchaser intends to use the assets to carry on the same kind of business as the seller.
• Where the seller is a taxable person, the purchaser must be a taxable person already or become one as the result of the transfer.
• Where only part of a business is sold it must be capable of separate operation.
• There must not be a series of immediately consecutive transfers.
• There are further conditions in relation to transactions involving land.

The TOGC rules can be complex, and both the vendor and purchaser of a business must ensure that the rules are properly followed. The TOGC rules are also mandatory which means that it is imperative to establish from the outset whether a sale is or is not a TOGC. For example, if VAT is charged in error, the buyer has no legal right to recover it from HMRC and would have to seek to recover this 'VAT' from the seller.

The VAT Margin scheme is where VAT is not charged in a conventional way.

Under the margin schemes, VAT is calculated on the profit margin i.e., on the difference between the cost of acquiring an item and its sale price rather than on the full selling price.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-margin-and-global-accounting-scheme-vat-notice-718

Without the margin scheme the business would have to account for VAT on the full selling price of each item. If an item is sold for less than was paid for it, then no VAT is due on the sale.

The eligible goods are:

• Second-hand goods – defined as tangible movable property that is suitable for further use as it is or after repair, other than works of art, collectors’ items, or antiques and other than precious metals or precious stones as defined.
• Works of art and collectors’ items. The legal definition of works of art includes pictures, paintings, collages, and drawings executed by hand by the artist
• Antiques. The legal definition of an antique is an item, other than a work of art or a collectors’ item, which is over one hundred years old.

If you are looking to know more about how the scheme works, please get in touch with us.

HMRC had in the past lowered the VAT rate (5%) for hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions businesses. This privilege has ended on 30 September 2021.

However, the government had previously decided that reverting to the standard rate would be too much for many businesses and had announced a further step before reverting the rate back to the standard rate.

This means that we now have a new reduced rate of 12.5% from 1 October 2021 that will be in effect until 31 March 2022 at which point it is expected that the rate will go back to the 20% standard rate.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-a-new-reduced-rate-of-vat-for-hospitality-holiday-accommodation-and-attractions/introduction-of-a-new-reduced-rate-of-vat-for-hospitality-holiday-accommodation-and-attractions

Although many businesses had campaigned for the rate to remain at 5% at least there is still some temporary reduction to help the continuing recovery of the sector.

Please have a look at our VAT services.

Affected businesses are advised to check that they have updated their billing and pricing software to provide for this change. There will also be increases in the VAT flat rate scheme percentages for catering services, hotel accommodation and pubs to accommodate this change.

If you need any help understanding how these changes will impact your VAT accounting, please get in touch.

If you are looking to know about the impact of new rules on your business, feel free to contact us.

HMRC’s guidance on how to complete and submit a One Stop Shop (OSS) VAT Return from 1 October 2021 has been updated. The special VAT return should only be completed by businesses registered for the OSS Union scheme.

The OSS Union scheme can be used by businesses selling goods from Northern Ireland to consumers in the EU under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol. In order to use the scheme, sales must be above the distance selling limit of £8,818 (€10,000). The scheme is only for the sale of goods. Supplies of digital services to consumers in the EU should not be reported.

Using the OSS saves affected businesses from having to register for VAT in up to 27 EU countries where they make distance sales of goods from Northern Ireland. The OSS Union scheme can be used to manage the VAT on distance sales of goods from Northern Ireland to the EU in one place.

HMRC’s published guidance titled ‘Check genuine HMRC contact that uses more than one communication method’ has been updated. The list is intended to help taxpayers check if recent contacts purporting to be from HMRC are actually a scam.

The guidance contains a list of emails, phone calls, letters and text messages recently issued by HMRC that are genuine. The list can be useful to help taxpayers decide if a contact is genuine or from a fraudster trying to trick taxpayers into supplying confidential or personal information.

One of the most recent additions on the list concerns contact by HMRC relating to VAT register inactivity. This confirms that HMRC is contacting customers who are believed to no longer need to hold a VAT Registration Number due to recent inactivity on their VAT account. Customers may receive a phone call or email, with the email referring to VAT register inactivity.

The phone calls or emails will ask customers to confirm whether they still require to be VAT registered, and to provide some basic information on where they are trading.

The calls or emails from HMRC do not ask for personal or financial information.

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 subject to VAT at the standard rate.

HMRC had temporarily changed the time limit from 30 to 90 days for notifying an option to tax land and buildings during coronavirus. This extension applied to decisions made between 15 February 2020 and 31 July 2021. This extension has now ended.

HMRC has also confirmed that the temporary change, introduced as a result of the pandemic, to allow options to tax to be signed electronically has now been made permanent. HMRC requires evidence that the signature is from a person authorised to make the option on behalf of the business.

The ability to convert the treatment of VAT exempt land and buildings to taxable can have many benefits. The main benefit is that the person making the option to tax will be able to recover VAT on costs (subject to the usual rules) associated with the property including the purchase and refurbishment of the property.

However, any subsequent sale or rental of the property will attract VAT. Where the purchaser or tenant is able to recover the VAT charged this is not normally an issue. However, where the purchaser / tenant is not VAT registered or not fully taxable (such as bank) the VAT can become an additional (non-recoverable) cost. Once an option to tax has been made it can only be revoked under limited circumstances.

The scope and legal basis of how VAT is charged on taxable supplies is defined as follows in the VAT Act 1994:

VAT shall be charged on any supply of goods or services made in the United Kingdom, where it is a taxable supply made by a taxable person in the course or furtherance of any business carried on by him.

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:

1. Is a supply of goods or services
2. That the supply takes place in the UK
3. Is made by a taxable person
4. Is made in the course or furtherance of any business carried on or to be carried on by that person

The fourth point above is a condition that needs to be carefully considered when deciding whether an activity is within the scope of VAT. This concept of 'business' is one of the less well-known rules and care must be taken to ensure that VAT is correctly charged.