Valid advisory costs include:
- The expenditure must be directly related to consultancy advice procured by the applicant to enable the business to discharge its obligations to HMRC, such as customs, excise, VAT relating to importing or exporting or safety and security declaration obligations.
- The provision of professional advice on specific aspects of regulations such as clarification of rules of origin or VAT relating to imports or exports.
- Associated costs with the delivery of professional advice – such as the consultant’s travel and subsistence costs and costs of products supplied included within the consultant’s fee and essential to the delivery of the advice
Not all advisory costs are covered by the Grant and examples given by the Government’s website are as follows: These advisory costs are invalid and excluded from the grant.
- Consultancy costs relating to domestic tax obligations, tax planning, recruitment or any business function not directly related to import, export movement of goods between GB and the EU are excluded.
- No support can be applied for in respect of any consultancy advice delivered internally within their organisation.
What advice is covered by this grant?
- Eligible professional advice is that contracted by the business from a consultant that is not employed by the business, typically for a daily rate or one-off fee.
- Consultants are not defined, recommended, or regulated by HMRC but are expected to be businesses registered with HMRC. Where employees of consultancy businesses provide advice, the invoice should be from the employing consultancy business.
Grant limitations.
- The consultancy costs that can be applied for are limited to £2,000 per applicant business. Where the consultancy cost exceeds £2,000, grant support is limited to the first £2,000.
- Multiple applications can be made, but the maximum amount that can be paid to any applicant across both training and professional advice is £2,000. For example, if the full grant has been claimed for professional advice, no further grant can be claimed for training and vice versa.
- Applications for lesser sums can be made for training and professional advice, for example £1,000 for each, but the total applied for cannot exceed £2,000.
What are the time limits on qualifying expenditure?
Please note, qualifying expenditure must have been made on or after 11 February 2021 and must be evidenced, in full, on submission of your claim for payment. The claim for payment including acceptable evidence of expenditure must be submitted within two calendar months of the grant offer being issued, and by 31 August 2021 at the latest.
Belluzzo International Partners
We at Belluzzo International Partners, have a dedicated and specialist team that can help with any queries relating to VAT on imports and exports to the EU and can also help you apply for the grants to pay for the professional advice provided. This is an excellent initiative to help small businesses through the Brexit minefield at little or no cost to them.
Feel free to contact Tony Castagnetti or Silvia Bocchetti for any issues.
