For determining the place of supply of services we need first to determine where the supplier and business customer have establishments and where they belong. From 1 January 2010 the ‘general rule’ is that the place of supply is where the customer belongs if the customer is a business customer.

Where the place of supply is determined by where the customer belongs, the customer is required to account for VAT under the “reverse charge” procedure. This means that the supplier treats the supply as outside of the UK (i.e. as if it were zero rated) and the customers charge themselves VAT on the invoice value.

For further information see HMRC VAT Notice 741A: place of supply services.