Revenue has updated its How to Protect your Business from Becoming Involved in VAT Fraud guide to reflect changes in Finance Act 2015 which gives Revenue the power to cancel a VAT registration number in certain circumstances and to make public the cancellation if necessary for the protection of VAT revenue.

The guide provides guidelines to help taxpayers avoid participating in transactions connected to VAT fraud. One important measure is to check that a VAT registration number is valid when you commence business with another party and the validity of this number should be checked on a regular basis. VAT registration numbers can be checked online on the European Commission website.