Do you need to charge VAT on your invoices to clients based outside the UK?

The answer is that you need to consider which jurisdiction your client belongs to and also, if they are in the EU, whether the client is acting in a non-business capacity:

if the client belongs outside the EU (including the UK and Isle of Man: you should not charge VAT;

if the client belongs within the EU (but outside the UK and the Isle of Man): you should not charge VAT if that client is receiving your advice for the purposes of a business carried on by him. But, if the client is not acting in the course of a business then you should charge VAT.

Note that this assumes that the advice you are giving does not relate to land situated in the UK; if it does relate to land in the UK then you have to charge your clients VAT (irrespective of where the client is based). Likewise, if your client does not come within any the above rules, then the normal requirement is that you charge VAT. See Legal Compliance Bulletin (May 2009; The Law Society; £150 annual sub – a new publication and one that definitely fills a need).