Vat Split Payments Proof of Concept

His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) invites interested persons (Tenderers) to tender for a contract to develop a Proof of Concept (PoC) to illustrate how extraction of VAT from payments (split payment) on real-time payment channels could work. The concept of the PoC is the idea that a payment might be split into elements which are then routed to different destinations. In a VAT context that is the notion that when qualifying goods or services are bought, the VAT within the purchaser's payment could be routed to HMRC and the seller only receives the net amount.

Initial focus is on exploring the feasibility of splitting payments in a specific area of VAT for goods and services bought by UK consumers from non-compliant overseas sellers. This will test a range of capabilities including the technology's ability to know when VAT is chargeable or not. Also, whether an intervention can be made without the consent of the seller or buyer, something that, as far as we are aware, known examples of split payment elsewhere are unable to do.

Such a mechanism would be driven by either payments system messages (e.g. the location of a seller or a buyer) or new data sources (e.g. product codes, e-invoices or equivalent). Currently, as far as we are aware, there are no marketed solutions available, and we are not aware of others asking the market to develop such solutions.

HMRC's current emphasis is only to discover whether technology is capable of real-time payment interventions to tackle overseas VAT non-compliance. This will inform policy development and dialogue.

The PoC will be carried out in 3 Phases (Phase 1 - Basic Capability Development, Phase 2 - Targeted Capability Development, Phase 3 - Advanced Capability Development), Phases 1 and 2 of the PoC must be completed no later than 31 May 2024, and all Phases of the PoC must be completed and invoiced before 31 January 2025. However, HMRC would prefer completion of all three (3) Phases by 31 July 2024 if possible. Within these deadlines the timings of the Phases are for the Tenderers to determine as part of their proposal.

HMRC intends to award up to a maximum of three (3) contracts in relation to this PoC to develop solutions for both card (Card payments should be taken to mean payments through debit and credit cards, as well as linked uses of digital wallets (whereby a wallet acts as a processing portal through which a payment from a linked card is made) and non-card payments (Non-Card payments should be taken to mean both Bacs and Faster Payments, and include linked uses of digital wallets (whereby a wallet is pre-loaded with funds transferred to it). A Tenderer's ability to cover both of these forms of payment is a mandatory requirement for participation in the PoC.

The overall funding available for all contracts awarded under this PoC is £4,000,000 (Vat Excl), the cap for any individual contract will be £1,666.666 (Vat Excl).

Additional information: This requirement will be met by an eSourcing RfP using HMRC SAP Ariba. Please ensure you are registered with the HMRC SAP Ariba to gain access to the RfP documentation which will contain full details. If you are not already registered, the registration link is: http://hmrc.supplier-eu.ariba.com/ad/register/SSOActions?type=full As part of the registration process you will receive a system generated email asking you to activate your SAP Ariba supplier account by verifying your email address. Once you have completed the activation process you will receive a further email by return confirming the 'registration process is now complete' and providing you with 'your organisation's account ID' number. If an email response from HMRC is not received within one working day of your request, please re-contact [email protected] (after first checking your spam in-box) confirming when your registration request was first made. Once you have obtained 'your organization's account ID' number, please email [email protected] and copy in [email protected] and [email protected] with your account ID number, you will then receive an e-mail confirming access. Further information about HMRC's procurement tool SAP Ariba, Suppliers Guide and general information is available on the HMRC website: www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/supplying.htm If you have already registered on SAP Ariba then you may also need to re-register on HMRC's SAP Ariba in order to be added to the event.