[dogma1138]

That's if they choose not to register for VAT you can register for a VAT number in the UK as self employed under any threshold. In many cases the savings from VAT returns might be sufficient to justify the cost of handling VAT on your end.

How ever non-UK member state suppliers complicate things, if you are VAT registered in Germany, you are treated as a VAT registered businesses/individual by the HMRC so in this case the reverse VAT charges need to happen (the company which received the service in the UK will clear the VAT on the invoice).

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/vatpossmanual/vatposs14100.ht...

What i don't understand is why they've simplified things beyond reason for B2B but complicated things in B2C, heck what happens if you have a tax exempt business (UK example: self-employed people with small earnings exemption) and you cannot register for a VAT number or produce a VAT invoice and you have B2C transactions with other member states that now require you to charge VAT?