Tax news in brief

Less than a month left for tax credit renewals

HMRC sent out more than 2.5m tax credit renewal packs between late April and early June. Some of these will have been an ‘auto-renewals’ reminder and others will have been a ‘reply required’ notice. One month before the 31 July deadline, HMRC issued a press release stating that it was still awaiting renewals from 440,000 tax credit claimants. Find out more about renewing tax credits.

Two VAT statutory instruments to correct anomalies

The Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Amendments and Repeals) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/714 and The Value Added Tax (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/715 come into force on 1 August 2021 (the commencement date of the first instrument is amended by The Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Amendments and Repeals) (EU Exit) (Amendment of Coming into Force Date) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/779). These instruments make various changes to address a number of errors, omissions and unintended interactions identified during a review of EU exit VAT legislation. These amendments are intended to ensure that the UK VAT system operates as required and meets the obligations of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Northern Ireland Protocol. Read more.

Distance sales of goods from Northern Ireland to the EU

From 1 July 2021, it is possible for Northern Ireland businesses to use the one stop shop (OSS) union scheme to manage and report VAT due on their EU distance sales of goods to consumers instead of potentially needing to register for VAT in up to 27 EU member states. Applications for the OSS scheme must be made by the 10th day of the month following the first eligible supply. Read more for details of how to register and the OSS recordkeeping requirements.

HMRC extends deadline for non-EU businesses to make a VAT repayment claim

Some non-EU businesses claiming refunds of VAT from HMRC for the year 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 have encountered difficulties obtaining a certificate of status to enable the refund. The deadline for claims was 31 December 2020 but the deadline for submitting the supporting certificate of status had previously been extended to 30 June 2021. The deadline for submitting a certificate of status has now been further extended to 31 December 2021. Refunds will not be made until a valid certificate of status has been received and HMRC has warned of potential processing delays owing to the volume of outstanding certificates. Overseas businesses (and their agents) are also reminded to submit refund claims for the period 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021, on or before 31 December 2021. Any certificates of status provided to HMRC during 2021 will remain valid for those claims. Read more.

HMRC form for de-minimis extended loss carry-back claims

A claim for loss-relief can be made by companies once the extent of the loss has been ‘established’. The claim must be for an amount which is quantified at the time the claim is made. Stand-alone companies and group companies with losses capable of providing relief up to a maximum of £200,000 may make a claim in respect of a relevant accounting period as soon as the accounting period in which the loss occurs has ended, providing it can be quantified appropriately. This means that such ‘de minimis’ claims can be made without the company having to wait until it submits its company tax return.

HMRC has issued a new online form for making de-minimis claims. The information required to complete the form includes the company’s unique taxpayer reference, company name, agent code (if applicable), start and end dates of loss-making accounting period, amount of loss, dates of accounting periods to carry the loss back to and the relevant amounts and management accounts in PDF format. Read more.