Brussels threatens small businesses in the UK

[NotAllThere]

Strange all the multi-million or Multinational firms I worked for did not have any great troubles with it, maybe they learnt after their hundred thousandth invoice? Or maybe they just put it into the system and ran the vat report like anyone with any sense does?

Just when you thought Cretin of the Year was already decided! Everything to play for. Come on Original PM!

[chopper]

You have 1, maybe as many as 4, invoices per month plus maybe a purchase each year (if you have a new laptop). Many (real) small businesses have thousands to process. Not all goods are 20%, some goods they buy and/or sell are zero rated (for example).

But when I ran a £1m a year turnover business generating thousands of invoices, as well as umpty invoices for goods/services received (some with VAT, some without, some for stuff from the EU or non-EU, and including invoices for leased cars available for staff private use with its own VAT quirkiness), I just entered the details into one of those computermajigs. Pressed a button every three months and sent it to HMRC. Since said invoices have to be entered into a Computermabob for non-VAT purposes (record keeping, PAYE, Corporation Tax, and other nonsense), the VAT part didn't really add significantly to the burden for the other things.

[m0n1k3r]

You have 1, maybe as many as 4, invoices per month plus maybe a purchase each year (if you have a new laptop). Many (real) small businesses have thousands to process. Not all goods are 20%, some goods they buy and/or sell are zero rated (for example).

I'm involved in a decent size business. VAT is still not a problem once the system is properly set up, with a sufficiently detailed chart of accounts and the appropriate VAT codes set for each account.

[Whorty]

I'm involved in a decent size business. VAT is still not a problem once the system is properly set up, with a sufficiently detailed chart of accounts and the appropriate VAT codes set for each account.

But there's the rub. Not every small company will have the knowledge or resources to set up their CoA sufficiently to account correctly for VAT if they don't need to today. Large businesses should have a company accountant to control this, smaller companies may not have an internal accountant but rely on a local accountancy company. Bringing those companies into VAT will cost them more as they will need to pay for more accountancy time.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Feel sorry for all of the small UK businesses who sell digital services B2C and are still trying to sell directly and deal with VAT themselves (rather than selling through a third-party platform that handles the VAT on the end sale).

Currently you either need to register for VAT in each country you sell to or register for the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) here in the UK but this will shut down on 29 March. The only alternative will be to register for a non-union MOSS scheme in another EU country. So I expect the Irish VAT man can expect an increase in non-EU MOSS registrations at the end of March.

[AtW]

You can only apply for 3rd country VAT MOSS after UK drops out - fookkng morons could not even negotiate quickly ability to apply before cut off date

btw Italy’s tax office is now very aggressive when it comes to VAT MOSS - small delay in payment results in 15% of total tax due fine plus interest

[m0n1k3r]

Feel sorry for all of the small UK businesses who sell digital services B2C and are still trying to sell directly and deal with VAT themselves (rather than selling through a third-party platform that handles the VAT on the end sale).

Currently you either need to register for VAT in each country you sell to or register for the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) here in the UK but this will shut down on 29 March. The only alternative will be to register for a non-union MOSS scheme in another EU country. So I expect the Irish VAT man can expect an increase in non-EU MOSS registrations at the end of March.

Irish VAT is vastly more complicated than UK VAT, even for intra-EU transactions. There are other jurisdictions that are easier to deal with.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Irish VAT is vastly more complicated than UK VAT, even for intra-EU transactions. There are other jurisdictions that are easier to deal with.

I can’t see why it would be, VAT regulations are largely set by the EU. In any case you would only be registering for the MOSS scheme, not for Irish VAT generally. It would work the same as the UK VAT MOSS scheme for the most part just with the added complication of having to deal with another country’s revenue department.

As mentioned above though the timing is going to be tight for anyone making sales in March.

By far the easiest solution is to only sell through an intermediary platform albeit at the cost of handing over a slice of your revenue.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

So it looks like the EU have finally brought in a threshold for VAT MOSS for micro businesses, just over £8k, starting today.

However it only applies to EU businesses so it will cease to apply to UK businesses after Brexit. *slow clap*

[chopper]

So it looks like the EU have finally brought in a threshold for VAT MOSS for micro businesses, just over £8k, starting today.

However it only applies to EU businesses so it will cease to apply to UK businesses after Brexit. *slow clap*

Most Gammons don't run businesses which submit VAT returns, so as it doesn't affect them, they don't care. To hell with all those who are impacted.