I awoke this morning to some chatter on the radio about the
possibility of VAT provisions in the Autumn Statement. Being a VAT
nerd, I immediately zoned into what the political commentator was
saying. Nothing about rates but a quick one-liner about the
"cliff-edge" for businesses being required to register
for VAT.
This piqued my interest even more, as I was part of the team at
the Office of Tax Simplification ("OTS") that looked at
this very problem in 2017. So, 6 years later, I thought I would
revisit the issue and try and dispel some myths.
Myth number one- Being VAT registered is a disadvantage for
small businesses.
The research conducted by the OTS team revealed that nearly 45%
of the VAT registered businesses had registered voluntarily,
pointing to the fact that being VAT registered was not a major
issue. This figure may have reduced since the introduction of
Making Tax Digital ("MTD") for VAT, as a number of
smaller businesses didn't want the hassle of
