Weekly tax brief | 2 June 2020

VAT and customs duty: make sure your supply chain is Coronavirus and Brexit proof 
Karen Glover and Brad Ashton
Many businesses have had to put Brexit on the back burner while they fight the global economic crisis brought on by coronavirus. With less than seven months to go until the UK is due to leave the EU’s VAT and customs systems, cross border traders should start reviewing their contracts and ‘Incoterms’, especially if the current crisis has, or will lead to, changes in their usual supply chains.

Will there be a new VAT responsibility for online marketplaces in 2021? 
Sarah Halsted
Unconfirmed reports suggest that HMRC will soon make operators of online marketplaces responsible for accounting for VAT on sales of goods from overseas suppliers to UK consumers. But is the reported implementation date of 1 January 2021 realistic while businesses are already grappling with changes arising from Brexit and the coronavirus emergency? 

Unprecedented, now deal with the unexpected
Rachel de Souza
Britons will lose the ability to travel freely across the EU from the end of the year. This could impact plans for emigration, retirement and the transfer of pension pots. 

Will July’s fiscal event include tax increases?
George Bull
Treasury confirmation that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak plans a fiscal event in July was quickly followed by a statement that the event will not constitute a Budget. So what might be included?

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