24 September 2020 
Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
HMRC have issued some guidance on the VAT reverse charge that come in wef 1 March 2021, if you buy or sell building and construction services, as follows.
VAT reverse charge technical guide
guidance on "How to use the VAT reverse charge if you buy building and construction services"
It is highly likely that universites will not have to apply the scheme, but if you have development companies in your corporate group, you will need to check if it will apply to them. If the development company's only customer is the university, it is unlikely that it will apply.
So that the DRC does not apply and you are still charged VAT as you are at the moment, you will need to issue a statement for your university (and separate statements for devcos) to suppliers. This is the example wording that HMRC give in its guidance on this issue:
‘We are an end user for the purposes of section 55A VAT Act 1994 reverse charge for building and construction services. Please issue us with a normal VAT invoice, with VAT charged at the appropriate rate. We will not account for the reverse charge.’
Please note that Martin Scammell will be covering this issue in his Property session at the Tax Conference.
