Sunday October 6 2024
Swindon & Wiltshire News
Police are warning businesses and the self employed about a scam which aims to dupe recipients over Euro-VAT.
New VAT laws effecting suppliers of digital services to Europe came into play on January 1. EU VAT will now be charged in the country where products are bought, rather than where they are sold.
Businesses in Swindon have recently received letters from VAT registration scammers who are encouraging to people to join what appear to be official directories.
The scam comes from Hamburg in Germany, with links to other overseas locations, from the address of digital publisher in Hamburg, Germany. Other overseas addresses are also used including Spain and Canada.
Claire Usher of Wiltshire police said: “An envelope is included with a return postal address of MLG Greenford, UK. The letter claims that the placing of these VAT entries in their directory is obligatory under ‘changes to the EU economic package’.
“They are using official looking documents with fine print and misleading information. The documents are well prepared to give the impression that information has to be provided and prices for their ‘service’ range from £797.
“If you receive this correspondence from TVV Tele Verzeichnis Verlag GmbH or similar asking you to place an entry in their VAT Registration Directory then the best advice is to keep your money in your pocket and not engage with this scam.”
HMRC has launched a service allowing businesses to register directly with them, to save the hassle of registering for VAT with every European country. Go to www.gov.uk/register-and-use-the-vat-mini-one-stop-shop for more information.
