NEWS AND EVENTS
Change to VAT Standard Rate
December 2009
From 1st January 2010, the standard rate of UK VAT will change from 15% to 17.5%.
After reading the documentation available from the HM Revenue & Customs website, we can provide a basic guide to the relevant actions required. If you have any doubts or special circumstances, please consult HM Revenue & Customs.
Basically the rules are that invoices produced on or after 1st January should use the new rate. Deposits or stage payments made against ongoing work should be invoiced at the rate in force at the time the payment was made.
In order to facilitate this change, you should follow this procedure:
- At the end of December, you should invoice for as much goods or services provided up to and including 31st December 2009 as possible, using an invoice date of 31st December.
- Change the rate corresponding to the standard VAT code from 15% to 17.5%. This will mean that new sales invoices produced from now on will use the new VAT rate.
- Create a new VAT code with a rate of 15%. This VAT code should be used when producing credit notes for any goods or services that were originally invoiced at 17.5%. It is permissible to use the 15% VAT rate when invoicing after 1st January for work carried out prior to 1st January, if you so wish.
Anti-forestalling legislation has been introduced to prevent abuse of the VAT rate change. This would come into effect when an invoice is produced prior to 1st January at 15% for work to be completed after 1st January (if this is not your normal practise), or the invoice is over £100,000.00, or the invoice is not expected to be paid within 6 months.
Users of the Warehousing system, where invoicing periods can be weekly, monthly, or 4-4-5 will need to adjust sales invoices to apply the appropriate VAT rate according to the dates on which the services were provided.
When posting purchase invoices (including customer self-bill invoices), you should check that the invoices received from your suppliers adhere to the same rules as above.
Further information available at www.hmrc.gov.uk/VAT/forms-rates/rates/rate-rise-guidance.pdf.