Good news: for design work supplied to business clients in the EU, you do not add UK VAT to your invoices.
The place of supply for business-to-business (B2B) services is where your customer is based. That means the sale is treated as taking place in Ireland or the Netherlands, not the UK, so it falls outside the scope of UK VAT. Instead, the reverse charge applies: your client accounts for the VAT themselves in their own country, at their local rate.
In practice, here's what to do:
- Confirm each client is genuinely a business. Ask for their VAT registration number and check it on the EU's VIES database before you invoice.
- 2. On the invoice, charge no VAT and add a note such as "Reverse charge — customer to account for VAT". Show the client's VAT number on the invoice too.
- 3. Keep evidence of the client's business status and the services provided, in case HMRC ever asks questions.
You do not need your own UK VAT number for the reverse charge to work — not being VAT registered doesn't stop it applying. Your own registration position only matters if your UK taxable turnover approaches the £90,000 threshold, and these EU sales don't count towards that threshold.
One caution: these rules are for business customers. If you ever sell design work to private individuals in the EU, the place of supply is generally the UK, so if you were VAT registered you'd charge UK VAT at 20%.
Hope that clears it up — it's one of those areas where the post-Brexit rules look more complicated than they are in practice.
