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How to Exempt International Entrants from Paying Local VAT

Nucleus customers’ whose Awards charge for Entries now have the option of preventing VAT from being added to invoices for Entrants who are based internationally, using a functionality called Reverse Charge VAT. This setting can be used for International Entrants who provide a valid VAT Registration Number, which is added to the invoice, confirming that they pay VAT in the country where the company is registered.

How to Enable Reverse Charge VAT

  1. Log into the Admin Interface
  2. Go to Actions>Misc
  3. Click on Configuration Values
  4. Search for Reverse Charge VAT
  5. Click Edit
  6. In the Value field enter one of the following:
    • Organisations – only organisations will be exempted from VAT
    • Both – organisations and indivudals will be exempted from VAT
  7. Click on Save and Close

How to Enable Reverse Charge VAT on an Award

Once this feature is enabled on your instance, there is an option for it to apply to each Award. For some items such as tickets to events, all users will need to pay local VAT regardless of their location. However, Awards’ Entries are different. Please speak to your finance team for advice on when to use this feature. To activate it for an Award:

  1. Log into the Admin Interface
  2. Go to Actions>Awards
  3. From your Awards list, find your Award you would like to switch it on for and click Edit in the Actions drop-down at the right-hand side
  4. On the Award Settings page select the country where the award is based
  5. Then scroll down to the Pricing section and set the Allow reverse charge VAT to Yes 
  6. Click Save and Close

All Users who are not based in the same country as the Award and have provided a VAT number will not be charged VAT on the invoice for this Award.


Note – Ensure that the standard Tax Rate field remains at the standard rate for your territory. This will ensure that local registered Organisations and Individuals continue to be charged VAT as normal.

How do Entrants Provide their VAT Number?

  • When registering for a Nucleus Account Entrants will be asked if they are VAT registered
  • If Yes is selected then a new field VAT number is displayed. If the user enters a value in the VAT number field then they will be eligible for Reverse Charge VAT provided it is switched on for the Award they are entering

How to Update a VAT Number for an Existing Entrant

Entrants and Admins can also apply this change to an existing entrant account.
Entrants should log into the Entrant Interface and go to the Account Details page and answer the Questions as outlined above. 
Admins can update the number by:

  1. Log into the Admin Interface
  2. Go to Actions>Organisations
  3. Locate the relevant organisation and click Edit
  4. Select Yes from the Are you VAT registered? question
  5. Enter a value in the VAT number field
  6. Click Save and Close

Note – Entrants will be provided with the opportunity to add a VAT number the first time that they go through the checkout process if they have not provided one. In addition, they can provide a VAT number at any time on the Account Settings Page.

Important Note – The Reverse Charge VAT is tied to the Organisation Billing Address, not the Organisation Address.