Spring 2008 Newsletter Content Winter Of Discontent CGT Winners CGT Losers Shifty Business Anything To Declare? Long Arm Of The Law Irreplaceable You Earn As You Pay Ask Questions Later Capital Ideas ISA ISA ISA Referee! Go Green VAT Or No VAT? Taking The Register Close Encounters May Contain Nuts Going Concern Ancient History Business And Pleasure Do Your Duty Know Your Rights Time To Go? Passing The Buck

VAT Or No VAT? If your customers are foreign, they probably won't want to pay VAT. If they are in business, they may be able to claim it back from HM Revenue & Customs, but it would be simpler not to have to pay it in the first place. So do you have to charge VAT to foreigners? As usual, the answer is "maybe". Recently there have been several cases in the VAT Tribunal about this. A British actress who was making a vampire action movie in New Zealand didn't have to charge VAT to the production company because she was providing an "entertainment service" and doing all the work outside the EU. A British consultant who sets up UK location shoots for Japanese television companies - acting as a general "fixer" - was held to be a consultant who didn't have to charge VAT, even when he extended his activities to organising tours for Japanese students. HMRC had accepted that the work for TV was not VATable, and he used exactly the same skills to organise the tours. A UK-based accountant doing accountancy work for someone based outside the EU doesn't normally have to charge them VAT. Data processing for non-EU people is also "outside the scope". So a company providing payroll services to a Guernsey-based business thought it would be all right... but the Tribunal ruled that payroll services don't contain enough advice to be accountancy, and are a bit too specialised to be mere data processing. They fell between the two and were VATable. We will be happy to advise you on when you have to charge VAT to your customers. If you belong outside the EU, we even won't charge you VAT - we're sure that's accountancy!