Free tool

VAT reverse charge checker

Answer five questions about the work and your customer. They are the checks HMRC gives suppliers, and any one of them can rule the reverse charge out, so the answer says which one decided it.

Check the construction invoice

Result

Standard-rated items within a zero-rated new build, such as fitted ovens or scaffold hire, aren’t reverse charged: charge VAT on them as normal. This follows HMRC’s checks for suppliers. It doesn’t cover an employment business supplying workers, which HMRC treats differently, and it isn’t tax advice: the VAT rate of the work is for you or your accountant.

What happens on the invoice

If the reverse charge applies, show the VAT rate and the VAT figure and say the customer accounts for the VAT to HMRC. Don’t add that VAT to what they pay you. If it doesn’t, the invoice charges VAT as normal, or 0% on zero-rated work such as building a new home.

Read the worked reverse charge invoice example, including CIS and end-user cases.

Put the result on the invoice.

Sendinvo shows reverse-charge wording and the VAT the contractor accounts for without adding it to what they pay you.

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