How to register for gambling tax

Our tax preparation specialists tell you how to register your business if it is involved in the gambling industry

At DSR Tax Refunds Ltd, we know that making sure you have registered your business for all the relevant tax charges can sometimes be a tricky task. That’s why our experts want to help make life as easy as possible for you by sharing our specialist knowledge with you. So, whether you are wanting more information about VAT or need to know about charitable tax relief, our handy guides are here to help. All our information is based on HMRC sources, so you can rest assured that these guides are filled with helpful and accurate information.

Do you need to register your business for gambling taxes?

If your business does either of the following, you will need to register for gambling duties:

• If it offers gambling services from outside the UK to customers inside the UK
• If you are an “off-course” bookmaker in the UK (this means you trade from inside a shop rather than on the site of a racing course) who takes bets from people who are in your premises.

If either of these apply, you will need to register for one of the following:

• General Betting Duty (GBD)
• Pool Betting Duty (PBD)
• Remote Gaming Duty (RGD)

You can register for these duties online, using the HMRC online registration service. You can also use this to manage the details of any agents or representatives who work on your behalf. If you are already registered to pay RGD, GBD or PBD you can’t register online.

What information will you need to use the online service?

You will need the following information about your business to register for gambling duty online:

• Your Government Gateway ID (you can create one if you don’t already have one)
• Your UTR for your business
• Your Gambling Commission licence number, if you know it
• Your VAT registration number
• How much profit you expect your business to make from your gambling business activities.

If you are registering on behalf of a group of business, you can do this online if you are the Group Lead Member (GLM). You will need the details of the rest of your group though.

At any point, you can save your application and come back to it later if you don’t have all the required information to hand. The application will be saved for 30 days so if you leave it longer than that, you will need to start a new application.

If you need to register for more than one type of gambling tax, you need to register them all at the same time. You can’t register them at separate times.

You can register by post if you don’t have a Remote Operating licence from the Gambling Commission. To do this you will need to write to HMRC and request either a GBD1 form (for registering for General Betting Duty) or a PBD1 form (for registering for Pool Betting Duty).

If you wish to register for Remote Gaming Duty you must do this online.

How can DSR Tax Refunds Ltd help?

We know that setting up a business can be hard work – there’s so much to think about and that’s before you start registering for all the business duties that may be applicable to your business. Our friendly team of tax specialists at DSR Tax Refunds Ltd are on hand to help make life easier for you. We’re the experts at identifying your maximum allowable expenses so call us on 0330 122 9972 – we’re the tax experts you can trust.