When providing services to your client, occasionally you might need to pay for items on their behalf. How do you then treat the VAT on the expenses that you recharge to the customer? There is one simple rule that you need to keep in mind: all recharged expenses carry VAT, unless the item is a disbursement. If you pay an expense on ...read more
If you have ever looked in to the rules surrounding reduced- or zero-rate VAT and the building and construction industry (if you haven’t then it is an excellent way of spending a Saturday afternoon), you will have no doubt noticed that it is a veritable rabbit hole of specific situations, qualifying conditions, requirements and exclusions. Therefore I have taken it ...read more
Since 2006, dentists have been able to incorporate their businesses, and many have chosen to do so because of the benefits it can provide. However, some dentists discovered that the contracts they had with their local NHS trust could not be transferred to the newly created company. One solution to this problem is to continue to run both the old ...read more
A tax tribunal judge has accepted a company’s reason for late payment of VAT liabilities as due to ‘factors flowing from the recession’. Scrimsign Micro-Electronics Ltd received three surcharge notices from HMRC for failing to pay their VAT bills on time. Despite the managing director appealing to HMRC that the company was suffering from financial difficulties attributable to the economic climate, ...read more
News just in: HMRC have announced this week that income received from Bitcoin mining activities will be outside the scope of VAT. As a result, any charges made with regards to Bitcoin transactions or exchange for different currencies will be exempt from UK VAT (similar to bank fees). Goods sold ...read more
The UK is renowned for having one of the most complicated tax systems in the world. Once facet of this is VAT, or Value Added Tax, which is currently paid on the purchase of some items. An in-depth look at the rules – what is VAT-able and what isn’t – throws up some unusual findings. Products are Standard-rated, Zero-rated or Exempt ...read more
Establishing which VAT scheme works best for each of our clients is an integral part of our work. If, excluding VAT, your business has a turnover of less than £150,000 per year, you have the option to choose the Flat Rate Scheme. It’s very simple: You pay VAT as a specific percentage of your total sales. You even get an additional ...read more
- New threshold is £77k - Hot food if meant for consumption whilst hot (as opposed to kept hot for hygiene reasons or as part of preparation) was always standard rated. Now it is standard rated whatever the reason (apart from fresh loaves of bread) This is huge news for take-aways. This is probably as a result of the failed ...read more
We had an interesting call with a client yesterday. He is not happy with the amount of VAT he is currently paying and doubly concerned about the increase in VAT from 4 Jan 2012 - to 20%. He asked me if there were any prospect of reducing is quarterly VAT figure. As a catering business with forecast turnover of £150,000 he ...read more
