In our regular VAT Q&A series, Croner Taxwise VAT advice consultant Sally Atkins looks at how changes in policy have affected the VAT treatment of a deposit that is retained after an event is cancelled

There are signs that the EU could be about to reconsider the VAT treatment of financial and insurance services, removing their exemption, partly because of recent changes to cost-sharing arrangements, and the challenges of taxing the digital economy

The Treasury and HMRC have extended the deadline to end May for applications for an £8m government funding grant for customs and export related training due to ongoing Brexit uncertainty and low take-up

HMRC has issued guidance for tax agents and accountants confirming that firms will need to create a single agent services account (ASA) for the whole practice to sign up clients to Making Tax Digital for VAT, stressing that once a client is signed up it is not possible to opt out of mandatory digital reporting

In our regular VAT Q&A series, Croner Taxwise adviser Arti Sonpal highlights that supplying building materials without providing constructions services results in VAT being charged at the standard rate of 20%

Today, 1 April, marks the launch of HMRC’s flagship Making Tax Digital programme, designed to streamline tax administration, which requires 1.2m VAT registered businesses earning over £85,000 to keep their records digitally and submit online VAT returns

In this month’s roundup of significant VAT cases, Graham Elliott CTA (Fellow), VAT specialist at City & Cambridge Consultancy, analyses Partial Exemption Attribution in N Brown Group plc, bonded warehouses and single market triangulation in Ampleaward and zero rating appeal rejected for J & B Hopkins

With just one week to go until Making Tax Digital for VAT is introduced for more than a million businesses, HMRC says just 70,000 have signed up for the new service, which is mandatory from 1 April

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has published a leaflet for SMEs, outlining changes that may affect the business when the UK leaves the EU, with advice on actions to take and sources of support

HMRC has warned that the registration process for Making Tax Digital for VAT, due to come into effect from 1 April, will take seven days to complete, and will not be a real time service

A taxpayer seeking to reclaim around £2,300 under the DIY house-builders scheme for fitting electric blinds to an eco-building has had his claim denied at a First Tier Tribunal (FTT), on the grounds that these were not items which are ordinarily incorporated into buildings of this kind

Ongoing Brexit negotiations continue to generate uncertainty, but what is clear is that UK businesses are heading towards a perfect VAT storm when Making Tax Digital and Brexit VAT changes collide, warns Ian Carpenter, partner and head of indirect tax at RSM

The introduction of Making Tax Digital for VAT will transform the way VAT is reported with a requirement to use digital records, but there is some respite as the first filing date is no earlier than 1 July and there is a soft-landing penalty regime in year one. Emma Chesson, head of online at Kreston Reeves, explains how to get started

In our regular VAT Q&A series, Croner Taxwise senior VAT consultant Hilary Budd considers whether online retailers using online marketplaces, eg, Amazon and eBay, to sell their goods must register for VAT in Germany if they want to continue selling to German customers  

HMRC has issued updated guidance outlining the situations in which businesses and individuals can receive exemption from Making Tax Digital, although Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) is warning that VAT registered individuals and businesses have little time to apply for an exemption