[drive surgeon]

hi guys i do commercial and domestic but a do mainly domestic pressure washing. i have given a few quotes into big firms but did not get the job,  could it be going against me as im not vat registered as i was told this could be the case as business's expect to pay vat.?

as im saving for a mortgage i need to put all money through the books so if i charge custies vat they will be asking can i do it for cash which i cant do yet.  i will lose custies by charging vat.

im sure all domestic custies think im keeping the cash as they always ask "how much for cash"? and when i say i want to be paid by cheque they look at me funny obviously.  but i get charged more by the bank for putting cash in my business account than cheques. 

[vacman]

 No one works for cash, no one ever fails to put anything through their books, there is no such thing as ' how much for cash' and no one would accept payment from a customer that wasnt 110% above board. I know this, because i dont see people writing about it, therefore it obviously doesnt happen.

[drive surgeon]

  good one vacman!

[Pristine Clean]

Drive surgeon

Unless your earn over or up to I think 68,000 you dont require to go VAT Reg.

If you mainly deal with the residential market I think you might lose some residential custies. Its more expensive for them.

If you are dealing with alot of commercial then being VAT Reg makes you look larger than what you are, they probably are VAT reg and can claim back any VAT. So they wont care about the more expense as there is none.

Be warned you must pay VAT on time all the time otherwise you get warnings then a big fine and can be taken off VAT Reg.

Dave

Dave

[Griffus]

You only have to pay VAT on monies received rather than invoiced, as long as you only claim VAT back for invoices paid.

This can be a big help with cashflow.

That said, if you do not need to register and you are already established then why would you. As Pristine says you run the risk of losing business from the domestic sector.

[drive surgeon]

ok thanks ian 

[Buckethead]

If you find you have to register, you could set up another company and split the work.

For instance, Pressure washing = Somebodys Pressure Washing Co.

Windows = Somebodys Window Cleaning Co.

And so on, it's the company that has to register (sole traders too) but you can still operate several companies without the need to register if the company does not go over the limit.

[Griffus]

If you find you have to register, you could set up another company and split the work.

For instance, Pressure washing = Somebodys Pressure Washing Co.

Windows = Somebodys Window Cleaning Co.

And so on, it's the company that has to register (sole traders too) but you can still operate several companies without the need to register if the company does not go over the limit.

I think that you'll find that HMRC are wise to this type of cop-out and so this is not an option.

[amberini]

Sorry but this is not an option,  you can only set-up a new business if it has no connections with any other business owned... I.E you can have a fruit & veg store and a piano maintenance company but

you cannot have say a carpet cleaning company and a window cleaning company as this is classed as the same catagory section, so a real no no

[Buckethead]

Just had a look on the VAT website

Section 13 applies
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000086&propertyType=document#P555_61294

(Strewth thats a long 'un)

So your right guys, my apologies

[Mike Halliday]

you can set up 1 as a limited company and another  a sole trader. this is seen as 2 separate entities

[Griffus]

you can set up 1 as a limited company and another  a sole trader. this is seen as 2 separate entities

Hi Mike, not according to our accountant, and he should know.

Amberini is correct. If the two businesses trade in similar trades then not an option. Otherwise we would all have at least two set up, claim VAT back on all purchases via one then not charge it to Customers via another.

[John Kelly]

Mike is right. As long as one of the companies is limited then you can have one vat registered and one not. A limited company is an entity and even though you may be a shareholder you are only classed as an employee. One downside is that you have to have a PAYE scheme. This is only really worth doing if you are wqell over the vat threshold anyway. I know a lot of people who operate this way and we did until recently. My accountant has 2 seperate businesses, 1 sole trader and 1 limited. He invoices non vat companies from his sole trader business. I checked this out thoroughly before we did it and it is legal. Trying to find that out wasn't easy as half the people working in government in this country don't know their right foot from their left and that includes websites and printed literature. I'm amazed anything ever actually gets done.

[GWCS]

how about if you are the director of the limited company and your unmarried partner is the sole trader of the other company.

different names both in directors and trading names, but same addy registered.