Responsibilities re: VAT for a non registered VAT person

N

niavo123

Guest
Hi

I am not registered for VAT as I am below the threshold however I am starting to be concerned about the content/ format of invoices I am receiving from some suppliers .

Is it my responsibility to ensure :-
I only accept invoices that charge me VAT and
that the supplier always quotes their VAT number to me etc ?
Is their some guidance on the minimum details they should provide on an invoice for me to deem it acceptable to pay ?

Thanks
 
When you are not VAT registered through being not required to be, all supplies to you will carry VAT at the applicable rates, or not at all if the supplier is, like you, not registered. As you have no entitlement to a VAT input credit and must simply pay the gross amount demanded, the VAT content or not is largely irrelevant to you. All that matters is that you have a valid invoice to pass your own accounting requirements.
 
Thanks for your reply .
One last query .....If I ask the supplier to quote either their VAT number or Tax number on all invoices they give me is that sufficient or would I have to check it with the Tax department also to ensure they are genuine ?
 
You have no responsibility as such to check the VAT number of a VAT registered supplier when you yourself are not VAT registered. However VAT numbers can be checked online here

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vieshome.do?selectedLanguage=en

What is relevant is that you have invoices which show the date / name / address and (if they are VAT registered) VAT number as appropriate of those suppliers that you pay in the course of your business and each invoice should give a description of the goods or services supplied to you.

I did encounter a situation at a Revenue Audit a number of years ago where the Revenue Auditor picked out an invoice on which my client had claimed VAT back. The invoice was correct in all respects and included the VAT number. The Revenue Auditor said that was not a genuine VAT number and my client was not entitled to have claimed the VAT on it. At that time the only way of checking VAT numbers was to ring Revenue and very few people did that nor did Revenue encourage it ( imagine all the phone calls ) so I said how was my client to know it was not genuine and her response was, well it's not so he shouldn't have claimed. It suggests that everyone who is VAT registered should, before claiming input credit from a supplier, check that the number on the invoice is genuine and at least now the EU validation site abive permits that to be done easily.
 
There is a technical requirement for a supplier to include their tax reference number on an invoice etc. This is a direct tax requirement and is independent of any VAT regulations. However this is an issue for the supplier and not the customer.
 
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