After the Brexit transition - some points that may help

The process for checking VAT numbers has changed

We have left the EU, the Service Connection that your Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central system uses to check VAT Reg. numbers for you is the VIES lookup service, this is an EU database. From 1^st January 2021, it cannot be used to check the validity of UK VAT registered businesses (but should still contain Northern Ireland registered companies if their VAT Reg. no. is prefixed by XI).

HMRC has released a new service

HMRC have released their online service to allow the checking of the validity of the VAT reg. numbers of UK businesses. The link to try it out is here.

Users of NAV or Business Central will for the moment need to use this outside of their system. A suggestion has been put to Microsoft to include both Service Connections to allow this to be done within the system, the link is here if you would like to vote for this.

Updates from Microsoft

Microsoft has published a helpful summary page regarding Brexit changes. It outlines what they have added to the system in the January 2021 Cumulative Update (this will be available for NAV2016 onwards and Business Central version 14 onwards). This includes the EORI number being held on the Company Information page, along with a field to hold a Supplementary VAT Reg. Number, as shown below. If you are on Business Central SaaS (online) you will already have these updates, if you are using an on-premises version then you need to talk to us to arrange an update.

They have also added fields on customer and vendor cards to store their EORI numbers, as shown below.

These can then be added to the relevant reports (that part is still development work, they are not added to any reports as standard). The link to read more is here.

Northern Ireland is more complex

The above-mentioned link from Microsoft also mentions what may be required for companies based in Northern Ireland (or have a warehouse in Northern Ireland). Some specific changes that may be required here include adding Northern Ireland into the Countries/Regions list (ready for Intrastat reporting), amongst other things. You may also need to check further specialist sources of information.

Want to know more?

Your Tecman Account Manager will happily assist. For information about getting updates applied to your system or to access further training or consultancy simply ring us on 01902 578 300 or get in touch.