- UK First-tier Tribunal’s decision on VAT case has implications for multinational enterprises with UK operations
- Decision confirms possibility for branches of overseas companies to have fixed establishment and be members of UK VAT group
- Decision may impact multinational enterprises with branches in different EU countries
- Barclays Bank Plc’s appeal to add UK branch to VAT group was rejected by HMRC
- Tribunal concluded UK branch didn’t have required resources for fixed establishment
- Companies must ensure branches have adequate human and technical resources for fixed establishment
- Implications include need for resources to be present on permanent basis and ability to receive and make supplies
- Importance of evidence to support presence of required resources for VAT group application
- Challenges and denial of VAT grouping requests expected if required resources are not in place
- Advantages and disadvantages of forming a VAT group, including disregarding supplies between group members for UK VAT purposes
Source: news.bloombergtax.com
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
