VAT News

VAT Brexit News – Postponed VAT Accounting – Access to Monthly Statements

09.12.2020

How will Postponed VAT Accounting work in the UK? It’s a common question we get asked and there’s been more news out this week to help businesses deal at a practical level on how to get access to the new Monthly Import VAT statements that will be required to support your VAT recovery of import VAT post the 1st Jan 2021.

We can go through the VAT issues arising from importing and exporting goods in fuller detail at our next Get VAT Ready for Brexit session which is on Tuesday 15th December – the link to which is here,  but the news this week is that to access the HMRC system, that will be the source for these new monthly VAT statements, your business will need to have registered on HMRC’ Customs Declaration Service (CDS) first.

The process to apply for the CDS should only take a few minutes we understand. The news from HMRC is that monthly statement service has yet to “go live” but it is advisable to register in advance on the CDS system to be able to access your monthly statements when they do start to roll out.

We are also hearing from the business community that some importers are already using the Postponed VAT indicator on their Customs Declarations and it is being accepted. As EU sourced acquisitions should still go straight into Box 2 of your current VAT returns covering periods up to the end of December 2020 and be included in Box 4, it will be important to ensure there is no risk of double entries occurring when the monthly statements do start to appear from January. Postponed accounting covers imported goods from any country outside the UK from 1st Jan 2021.

Whilst there is a lot of Government led media promotion of the need for UK businesses to get ready for the end of the transition we are finding that there are lots of practical VAT questions that businesses are asking of HMRC that they are not yet in a position to answer. Our Get VAT Ready for Brexit Session next Tuesday may be the last session we are able to deliver this side of the Christmas period so if you would like to join in the hour long update and ask your VAT questions now may be the time. Book on here 

 

For the avoidance of doubt, the content recorded in this news article does not constitute formal advice and we do not guarantee the accuracy of any information provided at the time of reading. It is always recommended that you seek professional advice before acting on any of the news articles or information included.


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