How do you employers stay on the right side of the tax man?

[Ian C]

I don't see that I am gaining financially, I am making a living. What they don't get is that domestic jobs which is 90% of my custom would then have to have VAT charged on top, the customers don't want to pay VAT and use a non VAT company, I loose. I have been through this before on many threads and I know hat works for me in my area. I really feel that the small business man get shafted not helped.

 

i am vat and 50/50 domestic, commercial and i aint bothered if they like it or not, im not in busnedd to suit them. dont say plus vat include it in you price, all your domestic customers pay vat every day of the week with out knowing it.

[nick channer]

i always fail to see what the big deal is with paying tax.. with the right advice and good accountant you should pay very little if no tax at all. i paid none last yr and £230 yr before...

vat is diff matter.. makes me sick every quarter giving my hard earned cash away in 1000's when guy down road does exactly same job at same price and pays nothing... seems those that do well in having bigger turnover [which in no way means bigger profit] get penalised...

[nick channer]

i am vat and 50/50 domestic, commercial and i aint bothered if they like it or not, im not in busnedd to suit them. dont say plus vat include it in you price, all your domestic customers pay vat every day of the week with out knowing it.

 

agree. i never mention vat and if they ask i say we're not registered... vats in the price. just divide price by 1.2 and thats what your left with after paying vat...

[Hodge]

i am vat and 50/50 domestic, commercial and i aint bothered if they like it or not, im not in busnedd to suit them. dont say plus vat include it in you price, all your domestic customers pay vat every day of the week with out knowing it.

 

You have to state that you are charging VAT. If I give a customer a quote they all ways ask if there is VAT, if the job is £500+VAT then the other guy comes along and is £500 no VAT the they will in most cases give him the job. If you look at a reciept from a shop it states the vat on it. All shops are VAT reg where as not all tree firms are.

[nick channer]

You have to state that you are charging VAT. If I give a customer a quote they all ways ask if there is VAT, if the job is £500+VAT then the other guy comes along and is £500 no VAT the they will in most cases give him the job. If you look at a reciept from a shop it states the vat on it. All shops are VAT reg where as not all tree firms are.

 

i wouldnt price it as 500+vat though. if the jobs a 500 quid job thats what its gotta be and you gotta work harder and faster than guy down road who isnt registered so you can fit a £120 job in that day as well to make up for it...

i get a cheque at end of every job we do... very rarely does customer ask for an invoice, so although i write an invoice for every cheque i get the customers copy goes in bin... i just put the amount the job was for at bottom. book keeper works vat out for every inoice and submits it... again i've been doing this for yrs and with 2 vat inspections and not a mention of vat on an invoice never had problem...

obviously if customers registered vat is stated at 20% and my vat no is written on invoice..

[Paul Jenks]

how can that be... only person i'm evading is myself as when i do my end yr accounts i have no invoices for any labour thus my profit looks more than it would do if i had invoices for £40000 for labour...

my accountant said there was no problem in doing this and had tax inspection 2 yrs ago and they did ask why i had no labour invoices. i explained, no problem. all my guys are self employed obviously..

 

It's just that the previous post read[to me] as if something underhand was occurring. My apologies for my misinterpretation. You must be a dab hand at explaning to Messrs HMRC and Co.

[Johny Walker]

is ther a 16hr rule ,any more & ther classed as fulltime & on t5he books,or is that somthing else

[nick channer]

It's just that the previous post read[to me] as if something underhand was occurring. My apologies for my misinterpretation. You must be a dab hand at explaning to Messrs HMRC and Co.

 

no nothing underhand... obviously with self employed workers having to work for more than one person it gets round that problem also...

i originally started doing it when ressesion started and there wasnt always money in acc cleared every week. knew they would get paid if came straight from a customer.. just carried it on really.. also dont get charged by bank for writing 2 cheques out every week either....

[Hodge]

i wouldnt price it as 500+vat though. if the jobs a 500 quid job thats what its gotta be and you gotta work harder and faster than guy down road who isnt registered so you can fit a £120 job in that day as well to make up for it...

i get a cheque at end of every job we do... very rarely does customer ask for an invoice, so although i write an invoice for every cheque i get the customers copy goes in bin... i just put the amount the job was for at bottom. book keeper works vat out for every inoice and submits it... again i've been doing this for yrs and with 2 vat inspections and not a mention of vat on an invoice never had problem...

obviously if customers registered vat is stated at 20% and my vat no is written on invoice..

 

I can see where you are coming from but say 3 lads on a days job would be £550 then the vat makes £660 if I go in and price the job at £660 chances are I wouldn't get it. It's ok saying work harder and fit another job in bit in reality that's not always possible. Fair enough it works for you but not sure it would for me.

[Ian C]

i wouldnt price it as 500+vat though. if the jobs a 500 quid job thats what its gotta be and you gotta work harder and faster than guy down road who isnt registered so you can fit a £120 job in that day as well to make up for it...

i get a cheque at end of every job we do... very rarely does customer ask for an invoice, so although i write an invoice for every cheque i get the customers copy goes in bin... i just put the amount the job was for at bottom. book keeper works vat out for every inoice and submits it... again i've been doing this for yrs and with 2 vat inspections and not a mention of vat on an invoice never had problem...

obviously if customers registered vat is stated at 20% and my vat no is written on invoice..

 

 

But also remember you can claim back so i get my fuel for £1:15 yours is £1:3? i get £70 back on my advertising every month £80 on financed kit etc etc thi list goes on so although i have to work for a bit less per day to get the domestic jobs i win on the other side, every thing i buy for business I pay VAT on so i need to be in it aswell.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Ian C