Accounting for VAT when the product is manufactured in India but sold in the UK

Question

We are VAT registered UK we based business . We have a factory in India who supplies products directly to our customers (non VAT registered individuals) in the UK and EU. The point to note is they are directly supplying to customers from India (no agent importing in UK or EU first and then distributing to customers).
My questions are:
1) Do I need to account for VAT on such sales?
2) My understanding is that these sales are outside VAT framework as supplied from outside EU. In such case, do I need to include UK or EU sales on my VAT returns?
3) Can I still claim input tax on business expenses as usual?

Your help will be very much appreciated.
Salman

Answer

Hi there,

I hope you get an answer to your question shortly.

In the meantime, I recommend also looking at the Institute of Export and International Trade’s helpdesk for more specific advice:

http://www.export.org.uk/page/Export_Helpline

Export Action Plan