Vat invoice

kfuusj
I had the VAT number from my April invoices so used that on the HMRC search facility.

JohnN7 Thanks, interesting. My previous invoices (which I had downloaded before they retrospectively removed VAT from the old invoices) doesn't contain a VAT number at all, even though it shows VAT.

As an update, Lebara replied within a couple of hours to my online complaint submission. They said:

We understand that you have contacted us regarding the inability to receive VAT information.

As per the latest update, we have recently changed the format of our customer invoices and removed:

• The VAT registration number
• The VAT breakdown

This change reflects the VAT treatment applicable to our services, which are provided as a business-to-consumer (B2C) supply. Under UK VAT regulations, there is no requirement to issue VAT invoices to individual consumers. Instead, customers are provided with a receipt showing the total amount charged, inclusive of VAT, without a separate VAT breakdown.

Accordingly, our updated invoice format complies with the relevant VAT regulations and is designed to simplify presentation for our customers.

It does not look to me that this is correct either. From an initial look at this, it doesn't seem that VAT regulations differentiate between "individual consumers" versus some other purchaser. The differentiation appears to be whether the purchaser is VAT registered and asks for a VAT invoice. An "individual consumer" (whatever that actually means) can still be VAT registered.
Anyone wanting to challenge Lebara on this may want to ensure they have clearly requested a VAT invoice (rather than, for example, just asked why the VAT invoices are not available).

I have gone back pointing that out and asking if this is a final response for the purposes of the complaints process so I can escalate it to the ombudsman.

kfuusj, GCStudio, MarkB33, whynovatinvoice, GraemeW200, KinnieKat, JohnB38, GrahamD11, NickC5, StuartB12, MatthewW10, MatthewW8, JohnN7.

Thanks again for flagging this one! I've received an update from the team and I can confirm that the VAT invoices will be available again from the beginning of August. I'll drop another reply here once I have confirmation that it's up and running and you'll be able to back date invoices from that date.