This morning’s news that the UK will definitely leave the EU presents a number of VAT and customs duty challenges for businesses and also for the UK tax authorities. Our initial thinking on what lies ahead over the 2 year transition period we now have, is that businesses will want to think about end to end VAT and duty processes to work out where there will be an impact. For example this might simply be in the form of a change to VAT compliance type (eg a move from a distance selling to a ‘normal’ VAT registration in a former EU country), or to the amount of customs duty due on an import into an EU country as a result of the UK losing its preferential status (unless a new trade deal is done). In any event there will be a need for systems/master data changes for most businesses which will then drive the processes further down the chain. The attached articles we wrote for Tax Journal and Bloomberg Tax Planning International, Indirect Tax, summarise some of the key areas to consider. We’ll be publishing more blogs on specific areas of VAT and duty over the coming weeks and months. In the meantime we recommend the first step is for tax/finance teams to get together and identify likely hot spots for the business. Please give Julie Park or Sean McGinness a call on +44 1962 735 350 if you’d like to discuss the impacts specific to your business
