During the course of your transaction, in some cases, we will send you a Completion Statement as well as an Invoice. For those of you who are not new to the firm, upon perusal, you will note that the format of our completion statements and invoices has changed, and now show VAT as chargeable on certain disbursements which were not previously subject to VAT. Recent guidance provided by the Law Society will affect the way all law firms charge VAT on their disbursements and so it is not an issue unique to us in any way – it is purely a result of recent developments; as well as Law Society and HMRC guidance issued in certain cases that have appeared at the First Tier Tax Tribunal and Court of Appeal.
What counts as disbursement?
Broadly speaking any payment made to a third party in connection with the matter we are dealing with for you is classed as a disbursement. The Solicitors Act 1974 refers to them as “costs payable in the discharge of a liability properly incurred by him on behalf of the party to be charged with the bill”.
HMRC require a specific set of criteria to be satisfied for a payment to be treated as a non-VATable disbursement.
What is the new position?
The rules on what is a “disbursement” have not changed but the interpretation of the rules has been narrowed following the recent cases. Recently, all law firms were issued with new guidance from the Law Society that seeks to provide some real clarity.
We have now been advised to take a very narrow view of what is classed as a “disbursement”. Anything that can be deemed as being part of the services provided to you is now classed as a VATable disbursement. This contrasts with a straightforward repayment of a third-party service supplied to the client.
Some key examples of changes which you may have noticed in our invoicing are as follows:-
- Land Registry official copy documents: The Land Registry does not charge VAT on its fees for providing copy title documentation. However, we will now be charging VAT when we pass on those fees as we review the documents to advise and report to you.
- Land Registry priority searches and land charges search: these searches are undertaken at the Land Registry on most transactions that will require a Land Registry application. The Land Registry does not charge VAT on its fees for providing these searches, but we will now be charging VAT when we pass on those;
- Other Property searches including Land Charges (LLC1): where official search results are provided by the Local Authority, the said Local Authority does not charge VAT on the Local Land Charge element of the search fee. We are now required to charge VAT when we pass on the costs of those elements where VAT is not chargeable.
How does this affect you?
If you are VAT registered and the services we provide to you are during the course of your business dealings, then, subject to your Accountant’s advice, you should be entitled to claim the VAT back through your VAT returns. Our invoices will detail those disbursements on which you have paid VAT and so it is simply a case of some paperwork and a cash-flow consideration.
If you are an individual not obtaining services in the course of business or are not VAT registered, unfortunately, the VAT will be an additional cost to you.
Rest assured, if the third-party provider already charges VAT on its fees already, then you will not see any change in the total costs of those disbursements. For example, most property searches are already subject to VAT by the search provider and in those cases, the total cost will remain the same, but our presentation of the information on your completion statement and invoice will be different.
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Contact our team
For further information about any of our services or to book a no-obligation consultation, call us on 01243 786668 or email directly at info@georgeide.co.uk.
Client Testimonials
It is hard to improve on an existing, excellent service and I have no suggestions to make. I will definitely recommend you and would use your services again.
Mr. Philip Oliver
Nicholas Smith
Nicholas Smith was highly professional, focused and responsive. He worked to a very tight timetable to
complete the purchase of our house and I would strongly recommend him to prospective clients
Robert & Nathalie Forman
Nicholas Smith
Excellent service again – even better than last time. I was particularly impressed and grateful for the very speedy email communications; they were always prompt but also importantly, they were succinct. I was also pleased at the help given in distilling the important considerations and that Nick identified a major issue with the title very early on in the process.
Mike Smith
Nicholas Smith
Thank you so much Nicholas for the brilliant service you have given is throughout the selling and buying of our properties. You, and Maddie, have been exceptional.
Mr and Mrs Holder
Nicholas Smith
Nick, Sally and Maddie were excellent throughout the whole process. We are very happy with the service they provided.
Nichola Swan and Graham Cropley
Nicholas Smith
Maddie was always calm, efficient and prompt in her responses, for which I am very grateful.
Mrs Marilyn Young
Maddie Carty
Maddie was incredibly helpful throughout the whole process.
Easily contactable and very reassuring. Carol and the team at George Ide
were very efficient in delivering documents and always cordial. Absolute
pleasure to work with. Anon.
Maddie Carty
For the sale and purchase of our properties we found the service we received throughout the conveyance to be exemplary. A clear, efficient and professional service from Nicholas Smith and his team.
I would look no further for any future property conveyance and as a result of this experience with George Ide I will consider them, first and foremost, for future legal matters.
Ian & Susan Archer
Nicholas Smith
Nick, Sally, Maddie & Lara, I just wanted to thank you for the excellent service that you all provided in the recent sale and purchase of our home. You made a stressful process a great deal easier, with your prompt responses, ready availability and sound advice. We are very grateful and would recommend you to others. I will complete your feedback form, but just wanted to email my thanks to you directly. Best regards
Richard Clay
Nicholas Smith
Splendid service from Maddie, who was always happy to explain any questions we had, replying promptly and in plain English! She also proactively made sure at several stages in the process, that in light of her most recent clarifications, we were still happy to proceed.
Alan Diverall & Tracey Kent
Maddie Carty
Nick was at the very top of his game (again). If there is a better lawyer out there, I’ve yet to meet him. A giant amongst men. Respect.
Pete Cunningham
Nicholas Smith
We just wanted to take the time as well to say a personal thanks to the pair of you for your excellent service and support during our move. We had used you before but, like many people, we were tempted to go this time with one of the low cost on line conveyancing quotes we received. Had we done so we are now sure we would have regretted it as we feel that the exemplary service we got from yourselves was true value for money. In particular, towards the end of the process when we had to deal with a very demanding buyer for our house we felt very well supported by you not just in the technical elements of your service but also in the responsiveness and personal support we received. We have heard numerous stories from friends and colleagues of how they have struggled with conveyancing services during property transactions and have enjoyed telling people what a positive experience we had with George Ide.
Jeremy & Nicky Mills
Nicholas Smith
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