Cristi

  • Posts: 23
VAT or no VAT
« on: June 25, 2011, 12:31:54 am »
Hello World, I'm self employed and i registered la VAT payer, If yo ucan give me an advise how would be better VAT payer or not ? Thank you !

johnny bravo

  • Posts: 2672
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2011, 01:14:07 pm »
do you not need vat unless you reach an income amount to pay vat.

tacky

  • Posts: 1575
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2011, 05:44:30 pm »
i think u have to earn about £70.000 before u pay vat

Cristi

  • Posts: 23
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2011, 01:09:21 am »
i think u have to earn about £70.000 before u pay vat
Even if I am registered like a VAT payer ?

tacky

  • Posts: 1575
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2011, 07:49:25 pm »
im not clued up on this .
but is their any point in registering for vat if u ar not earning £70.000plus .
mayb the guys running BIG BUSINESSES could help us out .
i would like to know olso reason being .i had a chance of a small contract ,but they said i had to b vat registerd .i tried to xplain that i was not earning enough to pay vat .but i had all insurances etc .so guys please help us small businesses

Denise l

  • Posts: 1915
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2011, 09:10:57 pm »
I registered for VAT when I first started up, even though I didnt know if I would hit £60k. Reason being you can claim VAT back on everything such as fuel etc. You dont have to register under this but if you want to work for national companies and submit tenders then they expect you to be a big enough company to sustain the contract. Thats why if you say I dont have enough turnover to warrant vat then you probably wont get a look in. Depends what you want really, stay small or grow big. If you do go VAt then open a savings account alongside your current and be disciplined enough to transfer the vat every month into it. Then when the vat bill comes in, transfer it back to the current account, that way its painless.

Denise

tacky

  • Posts: 1575
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2011, 09:30:58 pm »
thanks denise .that was very helpfull

A P T

Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2011, 10:17:43 am »
Hi Cristy, what exactly do you mean by ' a registered vat payer ' ?, we ALL pay vat, in business or as private individuals, or do you mean you have volutairily registed with HMRC as being vat registered, as has been mentioned, you are obliged to register when your turnover reaches a certain point, but many years ago, you could opt to register, Im not sure if that option is still available as its so long ago , nowadays we have no choice due to t/o

Cristi

  • Posts: 23
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2011, 07:29:53 pm »
Hi Cristy, what exactly do you mean by ' a registered vat payer ' ?, we ALL pay vat, in business or as private individuals, or do you mean you have volutairily registed with HMRC as being vat registered, as has been mentioned, you are obliged to register when your turnover reaches a certain point, but many years ago, you could opt to register, Im not sure if that option is still available as its so long ago , nowadays we have no choice due to t/o
I am living in Ireland.I have allready registered like a VAT payer, I wanted to ask if it is better in terms of accounting to be VAT registered or not like selfemployed because at the time I am selfemployed.

Denise l

  • Posts: 1915
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2011, 07:32:52 pm »
Your,e not making sense Cristi. If you have your own business then you are self employed and if your company turnover doesnt reach £60 you dont need to register for VAT. Simples. Accounts dont come into it, its a tax!

Denise

Kieran Casey

  • Posts: 21
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2011, 08:30:34 am »
Cristi,

In Ireland you must register for VAT if your sales exceeds €37,500pa.

The advantage is that you can claim back any VAT you are charged on supplies etc... The disadvantage is that every 4 months you have to pay Revenue 13.5% of your turnover (less any VAT paid). The suggestion above about putting the money aside is a great suggestion.

Kieran

Ps - DM me if you have any other questions

geoffreyspecht

  • Posts: 485
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2011, 10:46:51 pm »
I registered for VAT when I first started up, even though I didnt know if I would hit £60k. Reason being you can claim VAT back on everything such as fuel etc. You dont have to register under this but if you want to work for national companies and submit tenders then they expect you to be a big enough company to sustain the contract. Thats why if you say I dont have enough turnover to warrant vat then you probably wont get a look in. Depends what you want really, stay small or grow big. If you do go VAt then open a savings account alongside your current and be disciplined enough to transfer the vat every month into it. Then when the vat bill comes in, transfer it back to the current account, that way its painless.

Denise
im not vat registered and i have council contracts

Rob_Mac

Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #12 on: August 12, 2011, 11:40:23 am »
You may have council contracts but your total sales either do not exceed £70 000 or if they do then you need to register for VAT. They will pursue any amounts of unpaid VAT, from previous years.

I had to find £18000.00 of unpaid VAT. Ignorance is not an excuse. It is your responsiblity to know when you are going to exceed the VAT threshold and when you are registered to make sure that VAT is applied to all future sales.

Rob ;D

JandS

  • Posts: 4238
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #13 on: August 23, 2011, 10:05:59 am »
I do council work as well and I'm not VAT
registered 'cos I never hit the threshold
and I will make sure I never do!!
Paying VAT puts you at a disadvantage in
residential work, £95 job becomes £114
which could lose you the job if quoting against
someone else.

John
Impossible done straight away, miracles can take a little longer.

Alan McTernan

  • Posts: 574
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #14 on: August 24, 2011, 09:39:35 pm »
I do council work as well and I'm not VAT
registered 'cos I never hit the threshold
and I will make sure I never do!!
Paying VAT puts you at a disadvantage in
residential work, £95 job becomes £114
which could lose you the job if quoting against
someone else.

John

Unless you go on the flat rate scheme which means you can swallow a certain amount to make you competitive but you can only claim vat on purchases over 2k (I think)

Best person to ask is your accountant ;)

Cristi

  • Posts: 23
Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #15 on: September 20, 2011, 03:57:32 pm »
Cristi,

In Ireland you must register for VAT if your sales exceeds €37,500pa.

The advantage is that you can claim back any VAT you are charged on supplies etc... The disadvantage is that every 4 months you have to pay Revenue 13.5% of your turnover (less any VAT paid). The suggestion above about putting the money aside is a great suggestion.

Kieran

Ps - DM me if you have any other questions
hello, what do you mean 13,5% from my turnover ?even if i am not on profit ?or maybe i dont understand

mike roberts

Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #16 on: September 24, 2011, 07:14:59 am »
I do council work as well and I'm not VAT
registered 'cos I never hit the threshold
and I will make sure I never do!!
Paying VAT puts you at a disadvantage in
residential work, £95 job becomes £114
which could lose you the job if quoting against
someone else.

John

thats what I thought until we became vat reg about 4 yrs ago.... had opposite effect for us .... loyal custys stayed, commercials no difference... new dom custys view us as a 'proper' company. ;D ;D


Rob_Mac

Re: VAT or no VAT
« Reply #17 on: September 24, 2011, 06:08:51 pm »
Mike

That is exactly how I see it. It is almost a badge, expected when you are dealing with commercial regularly but there are a great deal on here that would have to apply it to residential sales and that would make it harder.

I had this dilemna with the window cleaning. When our sales exceeded the VAT threshold it was easier to sell than try and apply it to seven hundred customers. I had the buyer in place so it worked out well.

If I could or wanted to have another crack at the residential market I would go VAT straight away as I would expect to grow my business way over it again.

I can see why JandS and Geoffreyspecht stay below but that would control my business and limit it too much.

Under 70 000 is still a very good turnover as a sole trader though!!!!

Rob ;D