FHDDS31200 - Approval, revoking the approval and variations: approval – policy: who must seek approval

(Finance Act (No.2) 2017, sections 49 & 50)

A person must seek approval if their business stores any goods that are:

  • imported from a country outside the UK
  • owned by, or stored on behalf of, someone established outside the UK
  • being offered for sale and haven’t been supplied in the UK for VAT purposes.

A ‘person’ includes:

  • an individual
  • a partnership
  • a limited liability partnership
  • a limited company
  • a public limited company
  • individual members of a group of companies - within the meaning of the Companies Act 2006

The above list is not exhaustive.

More details on who is within the scope of legislation can be found in FHDDS23000.

To work out whether a business is ‘established outside the UK’, you should consider where the functions of the business’s central administration take place. This includes where:

  • essential management decisions are made
  • the registered office is located
  • management meetings take place