You are viewing a low-graphics version of this page. Click the headline to view full version:
Registering a UK business for MwSt (German VAT)
Info, advice, and experiences
Hi anyone got experience of vat registration, have a uk based ltd co we want to register for vat in Berlin/Germany, we have a small office in Berlin but not done too much business there yet but we are about to. thanks.
Well you just register. Then you have a UK VAT number for UK sales and a German VAT number for the German sales. Simple enough, except over here you have to do the vat return EVERY month and make the payment and return within 10 days of the month end which is an inconvenient pain in the arse.
In theory can request a one month extension, but that just puts things back a month - doesn't really help very much.
I suggest getting a local to register and handle this for you.
Extra info:
In Europe if your sales exceed, or are expected to exceed the VAT threshold in a member country, then you need to register in that country - regardless where you make the sales. So if you are a UK company, 100% based in the UK but sell lots of widgets to France (above the French threshold) you must register in France.
More interesting for your company will be the issue of tax on profits. When you are making sales from the Berlin office (and we assume to German customers) then you have a PERMANENT ESTABLISHMENT in this country, and all profits from these sales must be paid to the German tax system. If you had no office here and were making the sales from the UK office then company tax would still be UK payable. So you will also have the pain in the arse of split accounts for the UK Ltd company, but were probably expecting that anyway?
In theory can request a one month extension, but that just puts things back a month - doesn't really help very much.
I suggest getting a local to register and handle this for you.
Extra info:
In Europe if your sales exceed, or are expected to exceed the VAT threshold in a member country, then you need to register in that country - regardless where you make the sales. So if you are a UK company, 100% based in the UK but sell lots of widgets to France (above the French threshold) you must register in France.
More interesting for your company will be the issue of tax on profits. When you are making sales from the Berlin office (and we assume to German customers) then you have a PERMANENT ESTABLISHMENT in this country, and all profits from these sales must be paid to the German tax system. If you had no office here and were making the sales from the UK office then company tax would still be UK payable. So you will also have the pain in the arse of split accounts for the UK Ltd company, but were probably expecting that anyway?
You are viewing a low fidelity version of this page. Click to view the full page.