Readers’ forum: Helping abroad

I act for a sole trader who is registered for VAT and provides personal assistant services to a range of business and private customers.

One of her clients is resident in a UK home for disabled people and my client deals with all of her administration and paperwork issues (claims for benefits and suchlike) as well as some of her personal needs such as shopping and bill payments.

My client issues sales invoices to a trust based in Switzerland and has never charged VAT. She has based this decision on the trust being outside the EU but is this correct?

lf so can she claim input tax on related costs or is she partly exempt as supplying exempt welfare services to someone in the UK? Her total annual fees are £90 000 of which £10 000 relates to the trust work. So if this work...