About International Service Entities

​​Introduction to International Services Entities (ISEs)

An international services entity (ISE) is a business that mainly serves non-residents of Jersey and is therefore exempted from GST.

As an International Service Entity:

• you don't have to register for GST in the normal way
• you can't charge or be charged GST
  
• your business pays a flat rate annual fee rather than accounting for GST in the normal way
  

ISE businesses

The following businesses can be ISEs:

• banks
• trust company businesses
• fund services
• business and fund functionaries
  
• collective investment funds
• unregulated funds and companies / partnerships and trustees of trusts that do not form a link in a value chain leading to consumption of goods or services by individuals resident in Jersey
  

If a business doesn't register as an ISE

Becoming an ISE is optional, and if your business decides not to register the normal GST rules apply:

• your business has made taxable supplies of £300,000 or more in the preceding 12 months. (Taxable supplies include goods and services that are taxed at both the standard and the zero-rate for GST. If the turnover from these goods and services was £300,000 then you should register.)
• there are reasonable grounds to believe that the value of your taxable supplies in the coming 12 months is likely to exceed £300,000
  
• you can register for GST voluntarily if your business has an annual taxable turnover under £300,000.
  

A business cannot be registered for GST and be an ISE.

Registering your business for GST

ISEs and dealing with suppliers

Stopping suppliers charging GST

ISEs are issued with an end user relief certificate (EURC).

Once you have received your EURC, you should inform your suppliers and send them a copy of your EURC if they ask for it.

If your ISE is listed by a trust company, you will not be issued with an EURC. Your suppliers will need to ask for written confirmation by the trust company that you have been listed as an ISE.

Checking an ISE

To check an ISE, the supplier will need to see the end user relief certificate (EURC) or have the trust company's written confirmation of the ISE status.

Reclaiming GST

If an ISE incurs GST it can recover the tax by submitting a claim form to the GST team.

However, goods supplied to an ISE for onward supply in the same state in Jersey are not exempt from GST.

Advice for trust companies

Key definition: 'vehicle'

A vehicle is an entity (other than a trustee) that is administered by a trust company.

Article 2 (4) of the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998 on Jersey Law website

If you provide company secretary services to businesses outside Jersey

If your trust company provides company secretary services to a business outside Jersey, it is administering that business and should count it in the number of vehicles it administers when applying for its ISE listing.

For the business outside Jersey to be eligible to be listed as an ISE, it must meet the conditions set out in Article 60 of the GST 2007 law. The conditions do not depend on the place of establishment of the company.

Do I have to include all the vehicles I administer when working out the fee?

No. You should include only the vehicles that are eligible for ISE status, unless they have listed and paid the fee in their own right. There is no fee for trusts.

GST laws governing ISEs

Legal guidance can be found in Articles 56A to 66 of the GST law 2007, and the GST (ISE) Regulations 2008.

Revenue Laws and regulations

Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998 on Jersey Law website