December 2018 / United Kingdom

December 12 2018

The Value Added Tax (Input Tax) (Specified Supplies) (Amendment) Order 2018 (S.I.2018/1328) made

The Value Added Tax (Input Tax) (Specified Supplies) (Amendment) Order 2018 (S.I.2018/1328) was made on 10 December 2018 and will come into force on 1 March 2019. The Order restricts the application of the Value Added Tax (Input Tax) (Specified Supplies) Order 1999 (S.I.1999/3121) to ensure that input tax recovery is limited in the case of supplies of insurance intermediary services to cases where the final consumers of those services belong outside the United Kingdom.
December 18 2018

Supplies of digital services to consumers in European Union: HRMC guidance

On 18 December 2018, HMRC published VAT Notes 2018 Issue 4. HMRC caution that the VAT rules with respect to the supply of digital services to private consumers in other EU Member States will change on 1 January 2019. The place of supply will be the United Kingdom if:
  • a UK business is not established in any other EU Member State; and
  • the total value of their cross-border digital sales is less than GBP 8,818 in the current and preceding calendar years.
December 19 2018

Cryptoassets for individuals: HRMC guidance

On 19 December 2018, HMRC published a Policy paper, Cryptoassets for individuals. There are three classes of cryptoassets, namely exchange tokens, utility tokens and security tokens. The paper reviews the taxation of exchange tokens (such as bitcoins) but does not specifically cover utility or security tokens. For utility and security tokens, the paper offers HMRC's starting position from which a different tax treatment may have to be applied. Individuals are liable to pay income tax and National Insurance Contributions on cryptoassets which they receive from:
  • their employer as a form of non-cash payment; and
  • mining, transaction confirmation or airdrops.
Individuals are liable to pay capital gains tax when they dispose of their cryptoassets.