URGENT: VAT Exemption relating to One-off Educational Conference

[EUDC]

Hello, and thank you in advance for any help provided in this matter.

We are running an educational conference for which we charge participants registration fees. We have recently been informed that we may be hit with a VAT bill of £30,000 on these fees, and it is significantly affecting our ability to operate and would require us not to pay our staff in order for the event to proceed (it will begin late next week).

We are unlikely to receive a response from HMRC on our query for this matter until next week, at which point it will be too late to finalise a lot of contracts. The organisers (who are students or recently graduated) would be willing to risk their own assets in paying for these bills if there was a reasonable chance of recouping these through an exemption.

The specifics of the query relate to Guidance 700/1 Point 3.7 (I cannot include a link due to a low post count on the forum). Since we are a one-off event, we would exceed the threshold this year, but not in subsequent years. What we need to know is how HMRC are likely to respond to our query when they get back to us late next week.

We obviously cannot afford an accountant on our budget, so any advice that could be provided would be appreciated a great deal. Thank you very much again and do post if you require more information.

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forums!

A few questions: who is 'we'? Is the 'we' VAT registered? Who advised that there would be a VAT bill? How much income will be received through registration fees? Have you phoned HMRC and have they given any advice?

Whether or not you are liable for VAT depends on whether you are making taxable supplies. The rules around this are very complicated, and this is not my area of expertise! Education and training is exempt if certain conditions are met, as outlined by HMRC:

HMRC - Education and vocational training

I cannot advise whether you fall into this exemption or not, and I would definitely recommend seeking advice if you are at all unsure. You could seek one-off advice from a specialist - they should be able to advise you over the phone roughly how long it would take them to review the position and their hourly rate. If it gives you peace of mind that you are avoiding a £30k liability then it is money well spent!