News
VAT Changes for 2010
11 June, 2009
On the 1st January 2010 there will be significant changes to VAT legislation and the way that VAT is administered. Because the changes may effectively cause an increase in costs for UK business, planning ahead will be crucial in order to remain compliant with the VAT rules and to avoid any penalties.
The New European Union VAT rules could increase the cost of using low cost administrative services for business-to-business services. This may well create administrative headaches for UK companies and increase the present cost of using administrative services from countries such as India.
To understand the impact and to implement the changes into systems and then process and manage the changes, is likely to create more work and higher costs even at this initial stage. It will however pave the way for the further changes and additional complexities forecast for 2011, 2013 and 2015.
These are a few suggestions in order for businesses to make the most of the benefits of the 2010 VAT changes.
- Definitively determine whether your EU customers are VAT taxable or not under the changed rules.
- Request and verify their VAT registration numbers.
- Update your business processes. (Re-evaluate and modify all processes that involve orders, invoices, filing of VAT returns or ESL’s.)
- Educate your staff on the new changes and their importance.
- The management of VAT should be set apart from your present accounting system.
- Systems that are purpose-built for automating tax management are the most favorable solution for VAT.