How did becoming VAT registered change your business?

[Slicer Dicer]

The more businesses that go vat reg the better it will be. Makes it fair accross the board and encourages progression rather than planned stagnation. We've been vat reg for some time now and haven't had any additional down turn in work 

[Chris at eden]

6 hours ago, donnk said:

 

try clearbooks, it does the vat for you. saving the accountant charges. piss easy to use as I  can use it.

Yeah Quickbooks does as well but i just let the accountant sort the return and registration and all that stuff for me, same with Corp tax.  It would cost me more in lost time than I pay him and he is better at it than me.  

 

[donnk]

maybe the corp tax but unless you do not enter the purchases and sales yourself then your wasting money on the bean counter for VAT.

[Chris at eden]

4 hours ago, donnk said:

maybe the corp tax but unless you do not enter the purchases and sales yourself then your wasting money on the bean counter for VAT.

Don't agree.  It costs me about £100 a month to leave it all to him.  I claim 20% of it back in VAT and then get another 20% off the remaining £80 through corporation tax.  So it costs me £64 a month for him to sort it all for me.  May be a bit more but it isn't a huge amount as I don't even notice it.  I charge more than that per hour so if I spent more than an hour a month dealing with it I would be out of pocket.  i invoice through quickbooks so all recorded. I upload my receipts through dext using the app and camera on my phone.  all included in the accountant's fees and all sent to them to sort automatically.  zero hassle.           

[butters]

28 minutes ago, Chris at eden said:

Don't agree.  It costs me about £100 a month to leave it all to him.  I claim 20% of it back in VAT and then get another 20% off the remaining £80 through corporation tax.  So it costs me £64 a month for him to sort it all for me.  May be a bit more but it isn't a huge amount as I don't even notice it.  I charge more than that per hour so if I spent more than an hour a month dealing with it I would be out of pocket.  i invoice through quickbooks so all recorded. I upload my receipts through dext using the app and camera on my phone.  all included in the accountant's fees and all sent to them to sort automatically.  zero hassle.           

So you’re basically wasting your money then. As quickbooks will record the vat for you. You’re already inputting the data into the system and quickbooks will work it all out automatically. It’s literally end of a vat quarter 2 clicks and it’s done. Hardly takes any more time and you’d save yourself a £100 

[doobin]

7 hours ago, Chris at eden said:

Don't agree.  It costs me about £100 a month to leave it all to him.  I claim 20% of it back in VAT and then get another 20% off the remaining £80 through corporation tax.  So it costs me £64 a month for him to sort it all for me.  May be a bit more but it isn't a huge amount as I don't even notice it.  I charge more than that per hour so if I spent more than an hour a month dealing with it I would be out of pocket.  i invoice through quickbooks so all recorded. I upload my receipts through dext using the app and camera on my phone.  all included in the accountant's fees and all sent to them to sort automatically.  zero hassle.           

 

 It sounds like your accountant may also be providing book keeping services too, so £100 a month pretty fair.

 

I can't stand QuickBooks. I've got no issues with sticking all my stuff into a spreadsheet each month- I quite like doing my own book keeping so happy to do that as it generally takes an hour on a wet day each month to photograph paper receipts and collate/input everything else from various sources (email, ebay, check the bank statement for finance going out, email compoanies who haven't sent a vat ticket with a materials delivery!)

 

6 hours ago, butters said:

So you’re basically wasting your money then. As quickbooks will record the vat for you. You’re already inputting the data into the system and quickbooks will work it all out automatically. It’s literally end of a vat quarter 2 clicks and it’s done. Hardly takes any more time and you’d save yourself a £100 

If you don't service and repair your own work truck you're basically wasting your money.... maybe. Maybe not if you don't have the skills and knowledge to not f it up!

 

QuickBooks is only as good as the data in. VAT is something you really don't want to get wrong. When you start dealing with things on finance, grant funding, bounce back loans, zero rating on newbuild works and the like, things need to be done correctly.  'I put it in the wrong column on QuickBooks' is not a valid excuse, and HMRC are tedious to deal with to say the least. £50 saved on an accountant is nothing compared to the time out of your business that a HMRC investigation would take, even if you escaped without fines.

 

If you're taken to time to learn enough about accounting to do your own to the standard of an accountant, then fair play. I do that with vehicle and machinery repairs, and do repairs for other people. But knowing your limits is a valuable business skill. I'm often asked 'wouldn't you make more  by working and get someone else to repair your machinery?' The answer is a hard no- but that's because I've tens of thousands invested in tools and skills and can do it easily to above the standard of a professional repair shop. Not so with accounting!

 

'You're basically wasting money then' is a bit flippant. It sounds top me that Chris knows the value of his time, and knows saving £100 a month is chicken feed in comparison to the hassle it would incur particularly if it went wrong.  Think about that customer we've all had, who decides a tree surgeon is too expensive, so heads down to the power tool section at B&Q for a chainsaw 😉

[Chris at eden]

10 hours ago, butters said:

So you’re basically wasting your money then. As quickbooks will record the vat for you. You’re already inputting the data into the system and quickbooks will work it all out automatically. It’s literally end of a vat quarter 2 clicks and it’s done. Hardly takes any more time and you’d save yourself a £100 

Doobin pretty much covered it below.  I prefer not to have to concern myself with stuff like that and leave it to the experts.  I pay a company to manage my website as well as they can do it better than me. 

 

I don't see it as a waste.  I work long and irregular hours which has its pros and cons but one of the nights last week I worked to 1am as I had a regular with a deadline. If I have choice of writing a report and keeping a client happy and growing the business or doing some accounts, the accounts will always get pushed to the back of the queue as business growth is what pays the bills, and I don't particularly like doing them. 

 

Not saying its right for everyone, just right for me. 

 

[Mr. Squirrel]

Vat registered one man band here, my book keeper was talking me out of it for ages, until I went over and had to. As others have said the clients who want you in won’t mind too much. 
Vat returns are a piece of piss in accounting software, I think it’s three mouse clicks to create and submit my return. 
The initial vat payment is a beaut as well. I think I got 17k, it’s only once obviously, but getting handed a wad of cash is a lovely wee treat. 
Basically everything, from saws to fuel, costs less now. It’s great. 

[Shaunpaul]

Just about to take the leap myself, subject to what a visit to an accountant holds this week, are most people doing domestic work on this post? It is worrying to think customers won’t want to pay the VAT and qo with the cheaper quote though, but at the same time its hassle to remain under the threshold.

[Will C]

Your customer base will change for the better as by being vat registered your seen as more legit and better heeled customers will pay for that as they see it “premium service “