Readers’ forum: VAT challenge caused by homeworking

One of my clients has encountered an unusual VAT situation following a change in the company’s working arrangements.

The company (incorporated in the UK and registered for VAT) provides IT consultancy services to UK businesses and used to have an office in London which was the seat of the decision-making process (the principal place of business and where all the employees worked). After the pandemic the company ended the lease on its UK premises and all employees now work remotely. I asked HMRC’s helpline service what address we should now use for VAT registration purposes and was told that in the absence of an office the address would default to the residential address of one of the directors who control the company. The two directors live in the Netherlands.

Does this mean we need to deregister from UK VAT and register for Dutch VAT instead? The...