Cold as ice

We have a client who supplies and installs refrigeration units to supermarkets in the UK and abroad. In Ireland our client uses the services of a contractor in Belfast in Northern Ireland but when the orders relate to a supermarket in the Republic the units are delivered direct to the supermarket there.

However the order comes from the Belfast contractor and is invoiced to them also.

The Belfast contractor is saying that they need to register for VAT in Southern Ireland and also register for the equivalent of the construction industry scheme there.

Are Taxation readers able to advise on what they believe is the correct treatment for VAT here?

Query 17 657 – Ice Nine

Reply from The VAT Consultancy

Let us start this reply with a basic EU VAT principle which covers the situation described by Ice Nine.

Where goods are dispatched or transported...