This guidance note provides an overview of the main principles of the global accounting scheme and this note should be read in conjunction with the Overview of margin schemes and Operating the margin scheme guidance notes.

The global accounting scheme is a simplified version of the margin scheme.

The key difference compared to the usual margin scheme rules is that for businesses using the global accounting margin scheme is the way the margin is calculated. Under the global accounting margin scheme, the margin is the difference between the eligible total purchases and total eligible sales made during the VAT return period, rather than the margin on the sale of individual items.

Businesses that would predominately benefit from using this scheme are those that:

1. •

   buy / sell high volume, low value goods

2. •

   cannot keep the accounting records that are required to use the normal margin scheme

The scheme can only be used for goods that cost £500 or less per item and the goods which are