Housing Associations

Centurion has a strong presence in the Housing Association sector in Wales and across the UK.

Our Engagement with Housing Associations

We have a specialist team dedicated to our housing association clients.  In addition to VAT consultancy support, we deliver sector specific training and run our own annual Sector VAT Forums in Wales and the South West of England.

Sector VAT Issues

With a mix of stock transfer organisations and traditional housing associations this sector brings a range of complexities from the VAT perspective. Partial exemption special methods need detailed consideration and, for any type of association, can create both VAT opportunities and risk. Land and property development projects are a frequent area especially as collaboration increases often including bodies with a very different VAT regime – local authorities, colleges of further education and NHS bodies. In addition we are seeing a further diversification of income generation in the sector as pressures on budgets grow. Conversations on the benefits of the VAT Cost Sharing Group issue are happening as well.

How Centurion can help

Centurion's engagement with this sector grew from the sector specific VAT knowledge our team had gathered over many years. We deliver VAT training courses both bespoke to client requirements and open courses.

Many of our housing clients use our VAT management service and proactive development teams understand the importance of talking to us early in the viability planning stage of a project to establish the VAT impact on even the physical layout of a building and the site development plans.

Meet the Team

Within Centurion we have three VAT specialists directly supporting our housing association clients:

Andrea Brindley
Andrea Brindley

Director

Email Andrea
Liz Maher
Liz Maher

Director

Email Liz
Julie Rawlinson-Smith
Julie Rawlinson-Smith

Associate Director

Email Julie

Each of the team members has more than 30 years of practical VAT experience, so our clients can be confident that our housing association VAT specialists have a wealth of VAT knowledge to draw upon. The team will be familiar to many from their extensive experience in supporting clients in this sector. Our VAT training program demonstrates that our team can talk the talk as well as walk it. We also deliver Annual VAT and Housing Associations Forums in Wales and the South West and are always available to deliver this event at venues across the UK.

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Our Housing Associations Clients

Case study

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The case of the Missed VAT

Even within smaller housing association VAT costs can linger within estate management projects which Centurion can unlock. A recent review by us of small projects in prior years identified that the association had overpaid its contractors in excess of £70,000 VAT. To rectify this needed no involvement with HMRC but did need our support as to the correct VAT accounting rules the contractor should have applied – they too faced no exposure to HMRC and the overcharges were corrected by VAT Credit notes. With the continuing pressure in the construction sector it would be important for any housing association to look for incorrect VAT charges from suppliers as should they go into liquidation then any recourse to a VAT refund is lost for the association.

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How much Grant funding is needed to cover irrecoverable VAT costs?

Often larger projects are supported in part by grant funds from local government, Economic or European Social Fund monies. As collaboration projects increase as a mechanism to achieve the ultimate project, it is vitally important to establish, at the planning stage, what VAT costs will be borne, what VAT could be recoverable and by whom. Such was the brief on a recent project that we advised on as the housing association needed to provide an estimate of its VAT costs on a complex property project to its partner body. Meeting with the property consultant within a very tight timescale we were able to deliver back within 24 hours an estimate of likely VAT costs and the irrecoverable element to enable this to be added to the project budget.

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