When the UK’s standard VAT rate dropped from 17.5% to 15% on 1 December 2008, COINS customers had an advantage over users of other software. With only five business days’ notice, COINS software and staff were ideally positioned to deal with the sudden change and support clients under the terms of the COINS Annual License Fee.

The VAT reduction was announced on 24 November 2008. Within hours, all UK customers were contacted with a preliminary notification. A detailed How To Guide went out the very next day on how to handle the VAT rate change in COINS – giving users as much time as possible to implement the change. (This guide, How To Handle UK VAT Rate Changes, is available on the Client Area Web site.)

COINS stores multiple VAT rates in the Central Repository and defaults the correct rate according the invoice’s tax point date. This means that users are ready for the end of the temporary VAT reduction as well. In other software packages, the VAT is hard coded and requires installation of emergency patches.

The COINS Electronic Trading Community (COINS-etc) received additional attention to ensure that COINS e-trading participants were able to seamlessly send and accept electronic invoices before and after the recent change. Manual intervention to select a specific VAT code is possible when manually processing invoices, but that does not apply to electronic invoices – the software must do it all. The COINS-etc Trading Hub automatically translates the suppliers’ VAT code to the appropriate COINS system code based on the invoice’s tax point date. Whatever the scenario, the company receiving an invoice electronically can be assured that the correct VAT was on the invoice, and that reporting to the government is correct.

Customers appreciated the minimal cost and disruption to invoice processing in spite of the suddenness of the HMRC’s unexpected VAT changes. Charlie Appleby, IT Manager of Pochin plc, summed it up: "We would like to pass on our appreciation for the efficient and effective transition to the new VAT rates. It is always reassuring to know that we have a strong support infrastructure provided by COINS and that we can rely on them when it counts.”

COINS customers are able to handle VAT correctly for 2009 with a few simple changes. They also have the assurance that they can go back to the old rate at the end of 2009 without difficulty.