UK companies will face huge new VAT burden after Brexit

The VAT changes spelled out in the taxation (cross-border trade) bill -- one of a string of Brexit laws passing through parliament -- are causing uproar among UK business groups, which say that they will create acute cashflow problems and huge additional bureaucracy.

Labour and Tory MPs and peers said that the only way to avoid the VAT Brexit penalty would be to stay in the customs union or negotiate to remain in the EU-VAT area.