When you sell services to your customers in the EU, so long as the "place of supply" of those services is in the EU, the sale will be outside the scope of UK VAT.
Since the place of supply rules changed on 1st January 2010, this will usually be true.
Here's how to track those sales in FreeAgent.
Which services does this apply to?
This applies to services that are not directly related to the sale of goods.
For example, if you're shipping cameras overseas, the cost of the shipping is directly related to the goods (the cameras) - and the cost of the shipping is treated as a sale of goods rather than a sale of services.
1. Enable EC VAT reporting
The first step is to switch on EC VAT reporting.
To do this, click Settings, then click VAT Registration.
Make sure the "Enable EC VAT Reporting" box is ticked.
Save your changes.
2. Make sure the contact is set for EC VAT
Click the Edit Details button for your contact in the EU.
Make sure that contact's country is in the EU but outside the UK, and that you have set the "Charge VAT" option to "Only if contact is based in the United Kingdom" or "Never" because the sales are outside the scope of UK VAT.
Save any changes you have made.
Please note these settings are different from the ones you need if you are selling goods to a customer based in the EU - so if you are selling both goods and services not related to those goods, you'll need to set up two different contacts in FreeAgent.
3. Create your invoice
You're now ready to create your sales invoice as normal.
As you do that, click the More Options arrow.
Tick the box saying "EC Services".
When you create the invoice, FreeAgent will then pick up that it's for a sale of services to a customer in the EU.
FreeAgent assumes that whenever the "EC Services" box is ticked, the place of supply is in the EU but outside the UK, so make sure it is.
Add items and send the invoice as normal.
VAT reporting - not on the flat rate scheme
When you correctly create an invoice for the sale of EC services, if you are not on the flat rate scheme, FreeAgent will add the amount of the invoice (or its corresponding receipt if you are cash accounting for VAT) to box 6 on your VAT return. Box 8 will not be used because that's just for sales of goods.
This applies even though sales of EC services are outside the scope of UK VAT, because HM Revenue specify that sales of services to the EC go in box 6 unless you are on the flat rate scheme.
VAT reporting - on the flat rate scheme
When you correctly create an invoice for the sale of EC services, if you are on the flat rate scheme, FreeAgent will not add the invoice (or its corresponding receipt if you are cash accounting for VAT) to box 6 on your VAT return, and will not work out flat rate VAT on that sale, because HM Revenue specify that sales of services to the EC are not part of your flat rate turnover.
Box 8 will not be used because that's just for sales of goods to the EU.
Who said VAT was easy :-)
I'm selling both goods and services to a customer in the EU - and the services are not directly related to the goods.
In that case you'll need to create two invoices in FreeAgent, one for the goods and the other for the unrelated services.
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