King's College London may be required to add Goods and Services Tax (GST) on top of certain programme fees where students study on courses outside of the UK and where the country of study requires tax to be added to fees. The UK Government does not require us to levy GST taxes (in the UK's case VAT) on students studying credit bearing courses in the UK, but this is not the case in all overseas tax jurisdictions.

We will provide further updates on this web page as and when they are known.

GST stands for Goods and Services Tax and is the generic term for a consumption tax which in the UK is known as VAT or Value Added Tax.

Whilst the delivery of education in the UK and many European countries is usually Exempt from VAT and other consumption taxation, this is not necessarily the case in other overseas territories. Some territories consider any online delivery as a digital service and therefore subject to GST and potentially other levies. With many services, including education, it is the place where the end consumer resides that determines where indirect taxes are payable.

This situation is rapidly evolving as overseas governments look to change their tax regulations to fit the modern, increasingly online economy. The UK education sector and King's College London are addressing this as fast as we can. We have been working extensively to assess the situation and work towards a solution. We are seeking advice on identifying the relevant countries this applies to and their various exemptions and tax registration requirements. This is a constantly shifting picture and more information will be released on these pages once known.

Which academic years may this apply to?

The first year that these charges could be included in fee invoices is academic year 2022-23. If you started your course prior to the 2022-23 academic year, and your course extends into or beyond the 2022-23 academic year, then future invoices for fees for those academic years may be subject to GST.

We will not seek to apply GST to invoices that have already been issued.

We are working to resolve the correct tax treatment in a number of countries and country specific GST %’s will be updated on this page accordingly.

King’s will notify students in writing of potential GST liability (which will depend on your country of residence) as soon as reasonably possible (and where possible 3 months prior to King’s raising an invoice for GST liability).

What to do if you are unhappy with having to pay GST?

If King's notifies you that you are liable for GST, and you are unhappy with this, you may end your contract with King’s and withdraw from your programme by raising a ticket to Student Administrative Services.

If you are an online distance learning student studying one of these postgraduate programmes, then please speak to the Student Success Team to process a withdrawal.

This means you will not incur fees for the next or subsequent academic terms and your studies with King's will terminate. You will remain liable for any fees incurred up to the date you terminate your studies with King's.

*The Singapore government have announced that the GST rate will increase to 9% from 01 January 2024

We have a responsibility to comply with tax regulations of our own and other overseas territory governments. This is an organisational responsibility for King’s but also, in most cases, helping students meet their own personal tax responsibilities. In supporting our students to get these tax issues correctly addressed we will need to add these taxes in certain emerging circumstances.

Unfortunately, the impact of countries modernising their taxes to bring digital services in to scope also has the possible impact of bringing other organisations and individuals into a taxable position too.

Your GST liability is determined at the point the invoice is issued and you will be responsible for paying this in full, even if you move during the period of study which the invoice covers. It is your responsibility to ensure that your term time address is kept up to date. For continuing students, please visit Student Services Online for guidance on how to update your address.

For applicants, you can update your term time address through King’s Apply by logging in to your King’s Apply account and clicking on your name in the top right corner. This will reveal a menu with an option, “Update Contact Information” where you can change your permanent and correspondence (term time) address.

Once you have updated your term time address, then any future fee invoices will reflect any GST liability accordingly.

Your offer letter will display your GST liability based on the country of your correspondence “term time” address at the point the offer is generated. If your existing “correspondence” address is incorrect, then please update this by logging in to your King’s Apply account and clicking on your name in the top right corner. This will reveal a menu with an option, “Update Contact Information” where you can change your permanent and correspondence (term time) address. You should then contact admissions via King’s Apply to ask them to re-issue your offer letter. Please ensure you keep your address updated to reflect your location of study.

You will have a final opportunity to review and update the address at the point of enrolment. If your address changes between paying your deposit and receiving your invoice and you are no longer being asked to pay GST, then any overpayment of your invoice can be refunded back to you. Once you have enrolled, you can request the overpayment to either be refunded back to you, by logging onto your student records portal and completing the online task called “Fee Payment Refund Request”, or you can leave the overpayment on the account for it to be offset to your next module fee.

Your invoice will display your GST liability based on the country in your contact (term time) address at the point the invoice is raised. Therefore, if you move countries during the period of study that the invoice covers, you will be required to pay the full GST.

If however your address changed prior to the start of the period of study the invoice covers we can review this for you. You will need to log in to your Student Records Portal to update your address. Please visit Student Services Online for more information on how to change my address. Once you have updated your address online, you will then need to complete the “proof of address form” to Credit Control, evidencing your change of address / country prior to the start of your study which the invoice is covering. Once the document is verified, Credit Control will be able to cancel your invoice and reissue it for the revised amount.

Please note, in order to verify the change of address occurred prior to the start of your period of study, you will be required to upload a recent “dated” proof of your address, such as a utility bill, or a bank statement.

Please make sure this evidence is in your name and clearly shows the date.

The vast majority of our students’ study in the UK either travelling to take part in courses in person at our London campuses or study from the UK online from their homes. At present these students are not subject to GST (VAT in the UK) on their courses and, whilst a matter for the UK Government, we have no reason to believe that this will change.

For the small minority of students studying a King’s course from another country you may be subject to GST now or in the future if the government or tax authorities in your place of study decide to apply taxes to programmes of study conducted online.

Please refer to your cancellation rights contained in the terms and conditions should you wish to withdraw your application at any stage.

No, any taxes due will be paid over by King’s College London to the relevant local tax authority. Any Goods and Services Tax you need to pay will be added to the invoice which King's College London issues to you for course fees.

Any GST liability will be reflected on your tuition fee invoice. All tuition fees including the GST element should be paid using the Global Pay for Students platform. Please visit our How to Pay My Fees web page for all the different payment methods available to you.

Any GST liability will be reflected on your tuition fee invoice and will be due the same time as your standard tuition fees. For more information on when you need to pay your fees, please see our When to Pay My Fees page.

You can interrupt or withdraw for any reason with GST being part of the recalculation of fees process. For more information, please see our Withdrawal and Interruptions web page.

If you are an online distance learning student studying one of these postgraduate programmes, then please speak to the Student Success Team to discuss a withdrawal or interruption.

Students are expected to settle their Tuition Fees promptly within the due dates set out in the college general regulations of enrolment. However, if you are having difficulties paying, please refer to our Payment Difficulties web page.