Readers’ forum: Should French-based chef charge VAT on services?

My client owns a restaurant in Manchester and uses the services of a French-based chef for one week each month to do special French cuisine nights. The chef is self-employed and lives in Paris but is VAT registered in the UK because he has a small retail shop selling food. The chef charges 20% UK VAT on his services and my client claims input tax but a colleague says this is wrong and that the chef should not charge VAT because my client should do the reverse charge instead. My colleague says that HMRC could disallow input tax for the last four years on the chef’s invoices because VAT has been incorrectly charged. What do readers think?

Query 20 310  – Delia.

Treat the supplies as outside VAT.

I wonder if HMRC might question whether someone in this position is truly self-employed or self-employed for the purposes...