Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 77B

Joint and several liability: sellers identified as non-compliant by the Commissioners

Section 77B enables HMRC to make online marketplace operators jointly and severally liable for VAT owed by non-compliant sellers who trade through their platforms.

• Where a seller on an online marketplace fails to comply with VAT obligations, HMRC may issue a notice to the marketplace operator requiring that the seller be removed from the platform
• If the operator does not remove the non-compliant seller within the specified period, the operator becomes jointly and severally liable for all VAT due on the seller's taxable supplies of goods made through that marketplace
• The liability notice takes effect from the day after it is issued and remains in force until HMRC issues a further notice ending it, or the recipient ceases to be the marketplace operator
• The Treasury has the power to make regulations specifying which supplies or offers for sale are, or are not, to be treated as made through an online marketplace

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