Value Added Tax

There are four options for the VAT treatment of road fuel costs.

1. Treat all of the VAT as input tax because 100% is used for business purposes. This option only applies to fuel for cars used exclusively for business purposes, such as pool cars.
2. Treat all of the VAT as input tax and either apply the fuel scale charges or account for VAT on the basis of amounts charged to the employee. If a business makes a charge for the private use of fuel it can opt to account for output tax on the basis of the amount charged to the employee. Or it can opt to apply the fuel scale charge instead of accounting for VAT on the charge made. The scale charge is a fixed amount and saves business car users the chore of keeping detailed records of actual private mileage.
3. Use detailed mileage records to separate the business mileage from the private mileage. This option will require businesses to keep detailed mileage records to demonstrate that only the business element of the VAT charged on fuel has been treated as input tax.
4. Treat no VAT incurred as input tax. This option allows businesses to choose not to pay the relevant scale charges. If they do this, they must not recover input tax on any road fuel bought by the business. Any business that opts to use this concession must do so in respect of all fuel used by it in all vehicles including commercial vehicles.

This is a complex area and care needs to be taken to ensure the best possible method is used considering the many variables at play.

The taxable turnover threshold that determines whether businesses should be registered for VAT is currently £85,000. The taxable turnover threshold that determines whether businesses can apply for deregistration is £83,000. The thresholds are currently frozen until 31 March 2026.

When there is a change of business ownership or legal status it is possible to transfer a VAT registration so that the new business will keep the same VAT number.

Businesses can apply for a VAT registration transfer online or by post. It usually takes three weeks for HMRC to confirm the transfer.

HMRC’s guidance states the following:

If you are selling your business:

• cancel your accountant’s access to your VAT online account – for example if you authorised them to deal with your VAT;
• cancel any direct debits on your VAT online account, and
• you must also give your records to the buyer if you are passing on your VAT number.

If you are buying a business:

• contact HMRC within 21 days of the transfer application if you want to keep the seller’s accountant,
• replace any self-billing arrangements with new ones, and
• set up new direct debits on your VAT online account.

Businesses may wish to start afresh and can opt to get a new VAT number. This will mean cancelling the existing VAT registration and re-registering for VAT. Whilst this requires additional paperwork it may be preferable as the VAT registration starts with a clean slate.

The check a UK VAT number service is available at: www.gov.uk/check-uk-vat-number.

This service allows users to check:

• if a UK VAT registration number is valid; and
• the name and address of the business the number is registered to.

The service also allows UK taxpayers to obtain a certificate to prove that they checked that a VAT registration number was valid at a given time and date. This is especially important where you take on new suppliers as HMRC could withdraw your ability to reclaim the input VAT you have paid if the VAT number is subsequently found to be invalid. The certificate will provide valuable evidence for a taxpayer to prove that they acted in good faith should HMRC challenge input tax recovery or seek payment of lost VAT.

The European Commission's website also includes an on-line service which allows taxpayers to check if a quoted VAT number from anywhere in the EU is valid. The on-line service is available at: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/vat-validation

A business that incurs expenditure on taxable and exempt business activities is partially exempt for VAT purposes.

This means that the business is required to make an apportionment between the activities using a 'partial exemption method' in order to calculate how much input tax is recoverable.

Businesses that make both taxable and exempt supplies must keep a separate record of exempt supplies along with details of how much VAT has been reclaimed.

There are a number of partial exemption methods available. The standard method of recovering any remaining input tax is to apply the ratio of the value of taxable supplies to total supplies, subject to the exclusion of certain items which could prove distortive. The standard method is automatically overridden where it produces a result that differs substantially from one based on the actual use of inputs. It is possible to agree a special method with HMRC.

The VAT incurred on exempt supplies can be recovered subject to two parallel de-minimis limits.

The tests are met where the total value of exempt input tax:

1. Is under £625 a month (£1,875 a quarter/£7,500 a year); and
2. Is less than half of the total input tax incurred.

If both tests are met the VAT can be recovered. Businesses that are partially exempt, need to complete this calculation on a quarterly basis as well as completing an annual calculation.

The transfer of a business as a going concern (TOGC) rules concern 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 continue 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 taxable turnover threshold that determines whether businesses should be registered for VAT is currently £85,000. Businesses with turnover below this level can also apply for a voluntary VAT registration.

Businesses charge VAT on their sales. This is known as output VAT and the sales are referred to as outputs. Similarly, VAT will be payable on most goods and services purchased by the business. This is known as input VAT.

The output VAT is collected from the customer by the business on behalf of HMRC and must be regularly paid over to HMRC. However, the input VAT suffered on most (but not all) goods and services purchased for the business can be deducted from the amount of output tax owed to HMRC.

If your input tax is greater than your output tax, HMRC will owe you a refund.

As a VAT-registered business you must:

• include VAT in the price of all goods and services at the correct rate;
• keep records of how much VAT you pay for things you buy for your business;
• account for VAT on any goods you import into the UK; 
• report the amount of VAT you charged your customers and the amount of VAT you paid to other businesses by sending a VAT return to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – usually every 3 months; and
• pay any VAT you owe to HMRC.

The Notification of Vehicle Arrivals (NOVA) is an online notification system for vehicles entering the country for permanent use on UK roads.

You can use the service if you are:

• a VAT-registered business that does not use the secure registration scheme;
• not VAT-registered and you have imported a vehicle from the EU into Northern Ireland;
• not VAT-registered and you have imported a vehicle from Ireland using a delayed declaration.

Under the system anyone who brings a vehicle into the UK using NOVA is normally required to notify HMRC within 14 days of the import date. Until this is done it will not be possible to register or licence a vehicle with the DVLA or DVA. A penalty system applies to late notifications.

A NOVA notification is not required if the vehicle has an engine size of 48cc or less (7.2kw or less if it’s electric) or if the secure registration scheme is used.

In order to make a notification to HMRC about a vehicle the following information will be required:

• The make, model, engine size and body type of your vehicle
• The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
• The existing registration number of the vehicle (if applicable)
• The value of the vehicle
• Mileage details

Whilst the easiest way to bring a vehicle into the UK will be by submitting the notification online there is also a paper form (VAT NOVA1) that can be used.

New simplified VAT guidance for overseas sellers has been published by HMRC. The guidance also includes a new translation into simplified Mandarin to help support Chinese retailers that sell goods online into the United Kingdom.

The guidance provides further information about the rules and obligations for overseas sellers that using online marketplaces and selling goods directly to UK consumers. This includes details of when and how VAT and import duties must be charged to customers by international sellers.

In 2022, the UK imported £83.3 billion in goods and services from China and Hong Kong. Online shopping accounted for 26.5% of all UK retail sales in 2022, with a substantial number of goods being bought from international sellers via online marketplaces.

Commenting on the publication of the simplified guidance, HMRC’s Director for Individuals and Small Business Compliance, said:

'We have acted on feedback from businesses to simplify and compile this online guidance into one, easily accessible place on GOV.UK. We have also recently published a simplified Mandarin translation of our guidance following research conducted with Chinese businesses.

By making our VAT and import duty rules easier to understand, we will be able to increase tax compliance levels for online sellers. We are asking UK freight, customs and shipping agents to help us reduce the tax gap by sharing this simplified guidance with their customers. By working together, we can help everyone pay the right amount of tax at the right time.'

The first monthly returns and payments affected by HMRC’s new VAT penalty regime were due by 7 March 2023. The new VAT penalty rules apply to the late submission and / or late payments of VAT returns for VAT return periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023. 

Under the new regime, there are separate penalties for late VAT returns and late payment of VAT as well as a new methodology to the way interest is charged. This replaces the old default surcharge regime and for most taxpayers should represent a fairer system.

The new system is points-based. This means that taxpayers will incur a penalty point for each missed VAT submission deadline. At a certain threshold of points, a financial penalty of £200 will be charged and the taxpayer will be notified. The threshold varies depending on the required submission frequency (monthly, quarterly, annual). For quarterly VAT returns, the penalty points threshold will be 4 points. The penalty points will reset to zero following a period of compliance, for quarterly returns this requires 12-months of compliance. There are also time limits after which a point cannot be levied. 

The new regime also sees the introduction of two new late payment penalties. A first payment penalty of 2% of the unpaid tax that remains outstanding 16-30 days after the due date. The second payment penalty increases to 4% of any unpaid tax that is 31 or more days overdue. To help with the introduction of the new system, HMRC has confirmed that it will not be charging a first late payment penalty for the first year of the new regime (1 January – 31 December 2023) once the debt is paid in full within 30-days of the payment due date or if a payment plan is agreed.

Late payment interest will be charged from the date a payment is overdue, until the date it is paid in full. Late payment interest is calculated as the Bank of England base rate plus 2.5%.

The first monthly returns and payments affected by HMRC’s new VAT penalty regime are due by 7 March 2023. The new rules apply to the late submission and / or late payments of VAT returns for VAT return periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023. 

Under the new regime, there are separate penalties for late VAT returns and late payment of VAT as well as a new methodology to the way interest is charged. This replaces the old default surcharge regime and for most taxpayers should represent a fairer system.

The new system is points-based. This means that taxpayers will incur a penalty point for each missed VAT submission deadline. At a certain threshold of points, a financial penalty of £200 will be charged and the taxpayer will be notified. The threshold varies depending on the required submission frequency (monthly, quarterly, annual). For quarterly VAT returns, the penalty points threshold will be 4 points. The penalty points will reset to zero following a period of compliance, for quarterly returns this requires 12-months of compliance. There are also time limits after which a point cannot be levied. 

In addition, the new system sees the introduction of two new late payment penalties. A first payment penalty of 2% of the unpaid tax that remains outstanding 16-30 days after the due date. The second payment penalty increases to 4% of any unpaid tax that is 31 or more days overdue. To help with the introduction of the new system, HMRC has confirmed that will not be charging a first late payment penalty for the first year of the new regime (1 January – 31 December 2023) once the debt is paid in full within 30-days of the payment due date or if a payment plan is agreed.

Late payment interest will be charged from the date a payment is overdue, until the date it is paid in full. Late payment interest is calculated as the Bank of England base rate plus 2.5%.