VAT on International Services
Newsletter issue - October 2014
When you sell services to businesses in other countries, the sale will generally be outside the scope of UK VAT. You don't charge VAT on your invoice, but you need to report the value of that sale as part of the total in box 6 on your VAT return. There are exceptions to this general rule for services connected to land, live performances, catering or passenger transport.
If the sale is to a VAT registered business in another EU country the sale must also be reported on your EC Sales list. If your customer is not a business, or is not VAT registered, the sale should not be included on the EC sales list. However, from 2015 sales of various electronic services, broadcasting or telecoms to non-business customers could affect your liability to register for VAT in the customer's country.
If your customer is located outside of the EU, you don't report the sale on the EC sales list, but the value of the sale must still be added to the total to be declared in box 6 on your VAT return.
These distinctions are easy to get wrong, so do ask us if you have any doubts about how to report international sales.