If you are carrying out a business in the UK, regardless of whether it is a large-scale business or a small business, getting registered for VAT will be beneficial. Company VAT number is equally important in this regard. In the same way, the suppliers of your business will also own unique kinds of VAT registration numbers. This unique number of your supplier’s VAT registration will be required when you plan to get your own business registered too. This is because when you come to the stage of reclaiming VAT, the procedure will require the VAT registration number of the supplier. Now you will easily get any kind of VAT paid at the time of receiving the supply.
However, for smooth processing in this regard, it is imperative for you to have the awareness of the basics of what is a VAT registration number, what is the reason VAT registration is so important for businesses, how is it helpful to find the business registered for VAT, and how to check the validity of a business’s unique VAT number. This comprehensive guide will help you in this regard as we have compiled everything that you need to know in this regard. Let us get further delved in the discussion.
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What Refers to a VAT Registration Number for a Company in the UK?
A VAT registration number refers to a unique kind of number that is given to all businesses after they are done with the procedure of getting registered for VAT. Normally it is a number that has nine unique digits in it. This number is different for every business as this has the prefix GB in the UK.
However, the format of the VAT registration number is different when it comes to dealing with another country that belonged to the EU. Even if your supplier is from any other EU country, the format will vary. This is because of the fact that every country has a unique code which will obviously be different from the UK. On the website of HMRC, there is a list of this format related to different countries that are European Union members.
How is it Helpful to Register the Business for VAT?
There is no denying the importance of VAT registration numbers whether you are running a small business, a new set-up, or a large business. Whenever you will require to reclaim the VAT paid at the time of supply, you will require a valid number that is your supplier’s VAT number.
If you fail to meet the criteria of the claims, HMRC will reject it and you will not experience any success in getting the VAT back. In such situations, the businesses often end up dealing with hefty amounts of tax bills and also spending a lot of money to rectify the problem.
Why VAT Registration Number is Mandatory?
There come times when you are in the need of finding a valid VAT registration number or checking its validity for another business. This is easy to find the VAT registration number on the invoice that any supplier or business has given you at the time of dealing. In the case a business is actually registered for VAT, the invoices must have the unique ID that represents the VAT registration number of that business or supplier.
In some cases, the businesses provide the VAT on the supplies, however, they do not find any VAT number in the invoices. If that is the case, you better get in touch with your supplier immediately. This will help you to get a valid invoice that will be used to claim the amount of VAT that you paid at the time of getting the supply.
How to Check the Validity of the VAT Registration Number?
It is again important after all the procedure is done that the VAT registration number that your supplier or any other business has given you is valid. There are multiple ways that can help you in this regard. The authentic ways are listed and explained as:
1- Check the VIES Website
VIES is the abberavtion of European Union’s VAT Information Exchange System. This is an authentic way out that will help you to get the validity of the VAT registration number checked whether it is of any UK business or any other business that belongs to the EU countries.
All you have to do is to enter the VAT registration and the country code relevant to the business. This will give you authentic results to check the validity. In case you find out that the VAT number is invalid, immediately get in touch with the supplier to get the right VAT number.
2- Call the VAT Helpline Number of HMRC
There is a database record of all the businesses with HMRC that are registered for VAT. When you want to check the validity of a VAT registration number, you can simply get in touch with HMRC through the VAT helpline number and get the relevant information.
The Bottom Line
Now that we have gathered a fair amount of information about how to register a business for vat in the UK, we can bring the discussion towards wrapping up. Getting an authentic and valid company VAT registration number is important for the process of reclaiming the amount of VAT that you have paid at the time of supply. In the absence of this information, the claim will be rejected by HMRC.
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Disclaimer: All the information provided in this article on how is it helpful to register the business for VAT, including all the texts and graphics, in general. It does not intend to disregard any of the professional advice.