VAT Regulations

Dealers standing at fairs across the UK will soon face a 20% rise in stall rents as HM Revenue & Customs enforce new VAT rules.

Changes to the temporary import VAT scheme this month could have a major impact on dealers’ cash flow if they do not complete the necessary paperwork soon.

A new and alarming scam guide is targeting the trade with demands linked to European Union regulations and focusing on VAT.

DO light, sound and video installations constitute works of art? Not according to the European Commission, who have unexpectedly reversed a decision made in a UK tax tribunal in 2008, and refused to classify works by established contemporary artists Dan Flavin (b.1933) and Bill Viola (b.1951) as “art”.

CECIL Court, the pedestrian thoroughfare in the West End of London that is home to around 20 antiquarian book dealers, has become the focus of a wider political debate on business rates.

THE petition to persuade the Government to ease business rates in support of the art and antiques industry is gathering momentum.

THE appeal of Paris as an auction centre for jewellery received a boost at the start of the year, when France slashed import VAT on “rare” or “high value” jewellery from 19.6 per cent to 5.5 per cent.

VIDEO art and other installations now legally count as sculpture for import purposes after a court ruling in a dispute over VAT.

The decision to scrap the UK discount on import VAT for works of art bought at auction comes into effect on September 1.

THE European Court of Human Justice has scrapped the UK discount on import VAT for works of art in relation to auctioneers' commissions.

A POSSIBLE hike in import VAT linked to works of art sold in the UK is not the threat some fear, says British Art Market Federation chairman Anthony Browne.

In addition to the implementation of VAT on seller fees reported in last week’s issue, eBay will introduce a number of substantial price increases from July 1. Most likely to upset eBay users is the imposition of a 1% charge on items carrying reserves in excess of £100. Previously that fee was just a flat rate of £1.20.

New European Union regulations regarding the collection of VAT on digital services mean that eBay will begin collecting VAT on seller fees from July 1.

Scrap it or at least make life easier for the trade, new study demands: THE European Union should look again at the whole issue of Import VAT and art market red tape, say The European Fine Art Foundation.

PRESSURE from the British Art Market Federation has persuaded the Government to relax Import VAT rules on art that are thought to have damaged legitimate trade.

“Thank goodness he didn’t put up VAT”, said one dealer in response to Gordon Brown’s budget – the worst fears of the trade did not come true last week.

Echoes of the Kent County Council Bill can be discerned in changes announced to the VAT secondhand margin scheme (notice 718). Dealers who use a system called Global Accounting to calculate VAT on profit margins will have to keep a record of the names and addresses of sellers on purchase invoices – a main requirement of the Kent Bill – when the changes come into force on July 31 this year.

UK: CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown’s change in VAT policy for museums should safeguard free entry where it already exists.

UK: ART importer and exporter Ron Tabor says he believes the Trade has nothing to fear from Customs over the recent closure of the VAT loophole on re-imported works of art which appears to threaten those who inadvertently bring back works of art which have been recently exported from the UK.

UK: CUSTOMS and Excise have closed a tax loophole leaving UK art dealers with a hefty VAT bill to pay in future.