My name's Steffen, one of the Partner's responsible for VAT work and making sure registrations go smoothly.

Any questions, please comment on the corresponding Karbon task, and I or one of the team will get back to you.

If you experience any issues with this form, email me directly at steffen@ecommerceaccountants.co.uk  

Saving and continuing

You are able to save this form and come back at a later date in case you do not have all the details you need at hand.

By submitting this application to register for VAT, you are making a legal declaration that the information is correct and complete to the best of your knowledge and belief. A false declaration can result in prosecution.

Has the business’s taxable turnover gone over £85,000 in any 12 month period?

The business must monitor its turnover every month and add up the total amount to cover the last 12 months. This is called a ‘rolling 12 month period’. If one month’s turnover takes the business over £85,000 in any rolling 12 month period, it must register for VAT.

HMRC requires this information to match their records. If this cannot be matched, the application cannot be submitted, so please be careful and accurate.

HMRC wants to know if you are an individual (effectively a sole trader) which it calls an NETP.

Alternatively, you will be a non-UK company, like a partnership, charity, unincorporated or incorporated company, like and LLC, etc.

Tell us if the business will:

• sell assets bought from outside the UK and claim a repayment of VAT under Directive 2008/9EC or Thirteenth VAT Directive
• sell goods into Northern Ireland from an EU member state

What is Directive 2008/9EC or Thirteenth VAT directive?
This Directive is a paper-based reclaim process which replaces the online process which was retired after Brexit.

This is a rarely used and time-consuming process, and typically irrelevant as you will not have been charged VAT (unless you are an EU business, and in this case you would reclaim in the EU typically). It applies if you personally buy assets in the EU, and then want to reclaim via the business.

The answer to the below question should be No unless you sell goods that are stored in the EU to customers in Northern Ireland. If the answer is Yes, then HMRC requires a paper-based application for VAT registration. 

The nominated business contact (required by HMRC) for whom we are registering this business is {name}, and all the fields below are related to this individual.

Standard Industry Classification (SIC) codes

We will register you with SIC code:
47910 - Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet

If this is not accurate or if you have provided a different SIC code previously to Companies House, let us know below.

You can read more on SIC codes here:
http://resources.companieshouse.gov.uk/sic

What do you think the VAT-taxable turnover will be for the next 12 months?

Tell us the estimated value.

Include the sale of all goods and services that are not exempt from VAT. You must include goods and services that have a 0% VAT rate.

Find out more about which goods and services are exempt from VAT (opens in new tab)

What do you think the VAT-taxable turnover will be for the next 12 months? For example, £600 or £90000

Does the business expect to regularly claim VAT refunds from HMRC?

Most businesses do not claim VAT refunds. It is only possible when the VAT a business pays on business-related purchases is more than the VAT it charges customers.

If a business sells mainly zero-rated items (the VAT on them is 0%), it may pay more VAT to run its business than it can charge. For example, most books are zero-rated, so a bookshop may find itself in this situation.

Will the business dispatch goods from a Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme (FHDDS) registered warehouse?

You can check if the business that stores and dispatches your goods in the UK is registered with the FHDDS by searching the registered businesses list (opens in new tab).

Are you able to provide bank or building society account details for the business?

If we owe the business money, we can repay this directly into your bank by BACS. This is faster and more secure than HMRC cheques.

The account does not have to be a dedicated business account but it must be:

• separate from a personal account
• in the name of the registered person or company
• in the UK
• able to receive BACS payments

VAT registration date

This must be on or after the date of incorporation or within the last 4 years.

We will use the latest registration date permissible and use this unless you tell us otherwise.

For a UK business, this will be the earliest of:

• the start of the month after you breached the £85k threshold, plus one month; or
• the day that you first expected to make £85k of UK taxable supplies in a 30-day period 

For a Non-UK business, this will be the day you first make or intend to make a taxable supply in the UK.

Returns schedule

You can select your quarterly return schedule. Most will select the one that aligns with their company year end. E.g. if your company year end is 31 December, you would select 'March, June, September, December' below.

Does the business want to register for the Flat Rate Scheme?

Businesses on the Flat Rate Scheme:

• pay a fixed rate of VAT to HMRC, based on their business type (usually 7.5% for ecommerce businesses)
• keep the difference between what they charge customers and pay to HMRC
  can’t reclaim VAT on their purchases (except for certain capital assets over £2,000)
• Can take an extra 1% off their fixed rate in the first year of VAT registration.
• Must move to the standard scheme if their revenue is over £230k (and cannot join if expected revenue is > £150k).

Show me an example

A Shopify business on the Flat rate Scheme does £20,000 worth of sales in a quarter. It charges 20% VAT and its sales, including £4,000 for VAT, total £24,000.

This type of business pays a VAT flat rate of 7.5% of total sales, which is £1,800. This is less than the £4,000 it charged for VAT and it can keep the £2,200 difference.

If the VAT costs this business would have been able to reclaim in the period are less than the £2,200, this business would be better off on the Flat Rate scheme.

Before you decide

You will need to have an idea how much the business will:

• spend on goods to run the company over the next 3 months
• earn in sales, including VAT, over the next 3 months

If you cannot decide right now, answer ‘no’. The business can register for the Flat Rate Scheme at a later date. Read more about it here:
https://www.gov.uk/vat-flat-rate-scheme (opens in a new tab).

You need to upload three identity documents for {name} in order for HMRC to process this VAT application.

We need one document to verify identity. The document must have a government issued photo, for example:

• a passport
• a photocard driving licence
• a national identity card

We need two additional pieces of evidence which can be copies of:

• a mortgage statement
• a lease or rental agreement
• a work permit or Visa
• any correspondence from the Department for Work and Pensions confirming entitlement to benefits
• a recent utility bill (recent means least 3 months)
• a birth certificate

Note, copies must be provided in English. HMRC will automatically reject any application which does not meet this requirement.

We'll review your responses and if everything looks in order, we will create an application in our HMRC agent account and submit it to HMRC.

Once submitted, we will send you a confirmation along with the reference number for your application.

Once submitted, within 5-10 working days you can expect to receive an email from HMRC with an attached letter and questionnaire to complete. Please follow the instructions in the letter, and share your draft responses with us so that we can review them (you will receive a corresponding Karbon task for this so you know where to upload this and as a reminder).