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How to fix VAT

ICAEW explores the challenges and opportunities offered in reimagining VAT and its application. Read about the history of VAT, the lessons that can be learned from outside the UK and the potential of digitalisation.

Join ICAEW's VAT Conference on 18 June
ICAEW is hosting a day-long conference on VAT at Chartered Accountants Hall. Hear from experts on simplification and reform ideas, as well as the impact of technology and dealing with HMRC.
Find out more Book your place
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What is VAT?
Value added tax is a vital tool for raising revenue to fund education, healthcare and more. We explain how it works and how it could be improved.
Looking up the front of the Bank of England towards a blue sky.
Article

Why the UK must reform VAT

  • 04 Dec 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
This vital revenue stream is burdened by complexity, undermined by exemptions, and dogged by a lack of digitalisation. Post-Brexit, there is both an opportunity and an imperative for core reform.
Read more
Podcast

How to fix VAT

  • 29 Oct 2024
  • ICAEW
In this episode we’ll be talking about the problems with VAT and why ICAEW is launching a new campaign, How to Fix VAT.
Listen now
two colleagues employees hands meeting sitting at a table desk office typing on a laptop writing pen looking at paperwork charts graphs
Article

Why previous efforts to simplify VAT have failed

  • 19 Nov 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
Fifty years on from its introduction, VAT is a complex tax that taxpayers struggle to understand. Despite attempts at simplification, including by the Office of Tax Simplification itself, VAT remains notoriously complicated. Experts explain why this is the case.
Read now
Photograph of two Cornish pasties on paper and wooden board.
Image of Victoria Street and West Bow in Edinburgh, on a sunny day. Shoppers are in the street and bunting hangs between the shops.
Quiz

VAT quiz: standard-rated, zero-rated or exempt?

  • Article
  • 19 Dec 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
Test your knowledge of obscure VAT rules with this quiz from ICAEW. We’ll present you with a few everyday items, and you tell us if they are standard-rated, zero-rated or exempt.
Take the quiz

Bloomsbury Accounting and Tax Service

Eligible firms have free access to Bloomsbury Professional's comprehensive online library, comprising titles from some of the country's leading tax subject matter experts and covering VAT. Find out who is eligible and how you can access the Accounting and Tax Service.

See VAT ebooks