Customs and international trade
Keeping you compliant, and minimising your liabilities, when you’re moving goods across borders.
Read moreVAT & customs
Take control of your indirect taxes
Our VAT centre of excellence is dedicated to making indirect taxes clear
Without good advice, indirect taxes like VAT can be a stumbling block for your business. It’s easy to spend too much time and money – or, worse, to get into difficulties with customs or compliance. Our VAT centre of excellence is dedicated to making indirect taxes clear.
Too often, VAT is an afterthought. But if you’re embarking on a major project, exploring a new product or territory, making a large purchase, or doing business overseas, it’s something you can’t afford to get wrong.
Especially when you add other indirect taxes like Landfill Tax, Plastic Packaging Tax, and customs duties, things get complex. Confusion about the rules can slow your business down. Reliefs and opportunities are easy to miss. It’s a full-time job.
That’s why we’ve developed a focused centre of excellence for VAT, customs, and indirect tax. We have 20 fully qualified experts – half with experience inside HMRC. We’re here to give you fast, accurate answers. Spot opportunities. Point out hidden tripwires. And to support your team.
In short, it’s like having a colleague who’s a national authority on VAT.
Get focused advice from a national expert
When you’re in complex territory, it’s important to have a guide you can trust. As well as VAT accountancy and HMRC experience, our team members:
• Include six fully qualified customs professionals
• Chair and sit on committees for professional bodies like the ICAEW
• Are active in the Customs Professionals Group, and VAT Professionals Group
• Write articles and speak at events on VAT and customs issues
All-round support for your indirect tax needs
We work alongside our colleagues in corporate finance, direct tax, and business support to give you a single, joined-up approach.
We can help you with:
International e-commerce rules
Using our global network to help you understand local requirements worldwide.
Investigations and disputes
Helping you to get the best outcome from HMRC inspections and tribunals.
Read moreMarine VAT
Using a vessel internationally without falling foul of cross-border rules (we have an entire team dedicated to Marine VAT alone).
Read moreMergers and acquisitions
Carrying out due diligence and structuring your deal in the most efficient way
Read moreVAT advice
From registration, compliance questions, and VAT returns, to in-depth planning and restructuring.
Read moreVAT and customs training
Equipping your own people to navigate indirect tax rules with confidence.
VAT recovery
Maximising VAT re-claims on costs, and using exemptions and the capital goods scheme.
Focused advice for common business VAT queries
We have long experience in handling the most common challenges and questions around VAT, customs, and indirect tax. For example:
- Land and property – How to handle VAT around sub-letting, and including premises in a business sale
- Costs and disbursements – Recharging costs correctly to meet VAT and other indirect tax rules
- Exemption and zero-rating – Including charity reliefs, irrecoverable VAT, grant income, and dividing business and non-profit activities
- International documentation – Meeting sales tax requirements in other countries, including changing post-Brexit rules
- Food and beverage – Separating takeaway from on-site consumption, and handling weddings and other packaged events
- Mixing taxable and exempt income – For example, healthcare providers with business taxable income streams
More than VAT and customs
We can give clear answers on many areas of international documentation and indirect tax. Our indirect tax expertise includes:
- Plastic Packaging Tax
- Landfill Tax
- Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
- Climate Change Levy
- Aggregates Levy
Meanwhile, our qualified customs professionals can help you to clarify:
- Commodity codes / classification
- Customs Warehousing
- IPR / OPR / RGR
- Incoterms
- Origin
- Clearances
- Licences
- Customs Training
Making indirect tax clear – insights from our VAT experts
VAT exemption on private school education removed from 1 January 2025 – draft legislation and notes published by HM Treasury
30 July 2024
Read
The Common User Charge – new costs for imports of plants, plant products and products of animal origin (including food)
4 April 2024
Read
Digital Marketplaces – New requirement to report trader details to HMRC from 1 January 2024
8 January 2024
Read
Meet our VAT and customs experts
Put our VAT experts to the test
If you have a VAT, customs, or indirect tax-related challenge, feel free to get in touch. We bring an efficient, business like approach, and we love to help.