Agency wants to see VAT Certificate...

[tim123]

What rules are you referring to incidentally Tim? HMRCs? The agency?

The ones that HRMC have brought in to stop carousel fraud. HRMC expect that in C2C transactions the payer check that the person they are paying *really* is VAT registered.

Having a VAT number proves absolutely nothing as the other party could have made it up. There is a VAT number checker available, but that only checks that the number is validaly formed, it does not check that it links to a valid registration.

I have been showing my Certificate to agencies for the last 20 years. I really don't understand why you have an issue with this, even if there we no good reasion for it, which there is.

tim

[WindyAnna]

Most of the clients I have worked for have an AP policy where they want to see a copy of a company VAT reg before they will set them up as a vendor.

This is, as PP said, because putting a valid VAT number on an invoice is no evidence that they are actually registered for VAT and haven't just copied someone else's number. The company is responsible for ensuring that the suppliers are really VAT registered - so this is part of the reason. The other reason is to help validate that the company are above board, if a company are going to try to get away with an invalid VAT code then there's always the chance they are doing something else dodgy. It isn't by any means foolproof but it is an extra level of checking.

I did work for one client who insisted on it for SOX reasons but I can't see quite where SOX would apply for a UK customer/supplier relationship!

[malvolio]

SOX applies to any UK company that has a listing on the USA stock exchanges, usually through some subsidiary. Doesn't add any value (quite the reverse in fact) but tends to pop up in the most unexpecteed places!

[WindyAnna]

SOX applies to any UK company that has a listing on the USA stock exchanges, usually through some subsidiary. Doesn't add any value (quite the reverse in fact) but tends to pop up in the most unexpecteed places!

The company in question didn't have a US listing, subsidiary or any reason to aim for SOX compliance! Have done SOX projects before and when they mentioned it I did tell them it was nuts but it made them happy!

[Epiphone]

The answer I used to get, for them wanting copies of the certificates "we have an audit coming up in a couple of days, and we want everything to be in order"

LOL The old "we have an audit coming up in a couple of days, and we want everything to be in order" Hays line. They must have audits every day of the year.

Scarily, other agencies are picking up this line and trying it on too.

[BoredBloke]

I had the same request from my agency a couple of weeks ago. I phoned up HMRC to ask whether they had any right to ask for it and they said no, an invoice with a VAT number is sufficient.

If a company isn't VAT registered, but charges VAT on an invoice, then it is that company who are breaking the law, not the company who paid the invoice.

I had a pleb from the agency try to convince me otherwise but I told him where to go. He initially said they wouldn't pay any VAT until I send a copy of the certificate. I pointed out the legality of this on their part, quoting the call reference number Hector gave me when I called to ask whether they had any right to see the certificate.

So I would tell them to **** off. Pisses me off when agencies try to obtain information they have no need to see.

Can you imagine if every company who bought anything off another company could refuse to pay until they saw a VAT certificate?

I had an agency threaten to withold my VAT until I showed them my Vat Cert. I phoned the Vat people and they told me that they were allowed to do this. I asked if it was ok for me to withold the VAT from the diesel I bought on the basis that I hadn't seen the one relating to BP. He said that I wasn't allowed to do that!

It bugs me the amount of hoops we have to jump through like this. When I buy services off a 3rd party I don't ask for a VAT cert, certificate of incorporation, a copy of their insurance docs. On this contract I even had to spend £20 to get some kind of criminal disclosure thing.