Andrew Needham looks at the consequences of direct exports where the supplier arranges the export of the goods themselves.
When a business exports goods from the UK the sales can be zero-rated, but a business has to fulfil certain criteria for the zero-rating to apply. Following Brexit, exports are supplies of goods to any destination or customer outside the UK, except for sales from Northern Ireland which is still within the EU single market for VAT purposes.
There are two distinct categories of exports: direct exports and indirect exports (ex-works). With direct exports, the supplier of the goods arranges the transport and export of the goods themselves, and with indirect exports, it is the customer that arranges the transport and export of the goods. In both cases, the supplier must obtain evidence that the goods have been exported from the UK within three months of their removal.
