HMRC & reverse charge VAT

HMRC are introducing a change in the accounting for VAT on payments for labour and materials within the construction industry and covered by what we all know as the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).

The change is being made to address significant cases of VAT fraud within the supply chain of construction services and will take affect from 1^st October 2019.

The measure will, for certain supplies of construction services (‘specified services’), mean that the customer will be liable to account to HMRC for the VAT in respect of those purchases rather than the supplier (the ‘reverse charge’).

The reverse charge will apply through the supply chain where payments are required to be reported through the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS), up to the point where the customer receiving the supply is no longer a business that makes onward supplies of the “specified services” – these businesses are referred to as ‘End Users’.

Trace Solutions have been following the progress of this legislation over the past few months and have been in correspondence with HMRC to clarify the implications of this change for our property management software and those users of our systems who are either Contractors or, more commonly, “deemed” Contractors within the CIS scheme.

The latest HMRC Policy Paper, published on 7^th November, can be found here.