Readers’ forum: Machine hire

I act for a company based in Germany which for many years has hired a machine it owns to a UK business for one month each year usually in September. The German company has never registered for UK VAT because the UK business customer does the reverse charge on its own return. The machine is shipped into the UK from Germany for the month it is needed and is then returned to Germany four weeks later. The directors in Germany have now decided to form a UK company – it will have no physical or permanent human presence in the UK and will be registered with Companies House at our office address. The day-to-day decision making will be made in Germany. However one of the directors will come from Germany to the UK for the full month of the hire period.

What implications are created by...