Tax!

[combined tree services]

I got so stressed about cashflow I changed my invoice terms to payment on completion and make this clear when quoting. If people don't like it they can get someone else in.

 

well said mate , it gets me when you do a domestic jb and they expect 28 days to pay , you dont get 28 days to pay when you get a builder or plumber in nor do you get 28 days to pay for your shopping at tescos , if you cant afford to have the job done then dont have it done unless you make the contractor clear that you can not pay on completion and its up to you if you wish to do the work and wait for your money . simples

 

the best one i had was when i did a load of storm damage work 18 months ago . the client told me they would pay on completion , however on completion i was told it was an insurance job !!! 3 months later a got my money

[nailer]

I agree with the SWB approach. Domestic customers as much as possible and only commercial customers that are happy to play by the rules.

[Mark Bolam]

I will make exceptions in some cases, but I find the bigger the job/company, the longer they want to pay.

 

This is a double ballache because on the big jobs I have more overheads, fuel wages etc.

 

Did some work for a company building a petrol station who happily paid 4 times my quoted day rate on a 90-day payment basis. Crazy.

[Highland Forestry]

Big companies can be a real pain in the arse... you know it's bad when you know the contract managers mobile number off b heart because you've been trying to get hold of him for weeks to get paid.

 

I did a job in march for a management company that we don't usually work for.... this was the second contract we had done for them and the first one was only a day job.

This was a 7k job and took us a few weeks to complete, then when I was finished and sent in the invoices and all the paperwork I was told that they'd get paid when their clients paid their invoice..... nothing mentioned about this in the contract so I explained that it was in their interests to pay promptly if they wanted any future work done.

One of our regular clients pays immediatley on reciept of invoice, but I have to pay a 0.5% charge for this on all invoices.....

[Highland Forestry]

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I find what does help is to save all my large purchases until the end of the quarter, this way you have the VAT cash back in the bank within a few weeks, it is worth planning your equipment purchases this way, as it really helps with cash flow.

 

QUOTE]

 

just defer the vat, claim it back off the invoice before you pay it, its legal. any finance company will explain this and so will the vat man:001_smile:

 

 

How does this work Stevie??? do you mean clain the VAT in one quarter to offset your bill and then pay the invoice the next quarter?

[ukminch]

I think he's talking about cash accounting, basically you pay the vat man when you get paid.

 

Rob

[Highland Forestry]

As far as I know..... you dont have to pay over the VAT until you get paid anyway, so you dont pay the VAT over on outstanding invoices.

[Mesterh]

well said mate , it gets me when you do a domestic jb and they expect 28 days to pay , you dont get 28 days to pay when you get a builder or plumber in nor do you get 28 days to pay for your shopping at tescos , if you cant afford to have the job done then dont have it done unless you make the contractor clear that you can not pay on completion and its up to you if you wish to do the work and wait for your money . simples

 

the best one i had was when i did a load of storm damage work 18 months ago . the client told me they would pay on completion , however on completion i was told it was an insurance job !!! 3 months later a got my money

 

99% of domestics pay on the day with us or at least post it out that day, only one or 2 that wait till the end of the month etc but its no big deal since I ALWAYS know where they live

 

Commercial can be right bar stewards though

[Mark Bolam]

As far as I know..... you dont have to pay over the VAT until you get paid anyway, so you dont pay the VAT over on outstanding invoices.

 

Mmmmmmm.

 

In a previous life I was owed a lot of money by a company working for one of the big mobile phone companies. And I mean a lot of money.

 

Because I'd submitted invoices, the VAT man asked for the money. I explained I hadn't had a penny of it because the subby company hadn't been paid by the big boys.

 

Not interested, just pay up or we will crush you basically. I was less than a week away from going under when I got paid and was able to get them off my case.

 

The Inland Revenue are fine as long as you talk to them, pay them later with a bit of interest, payment plans etc.

 

HM Customs and Excise have more powers than the police. Fact. It is also a fact that they are a totally inflexible vindictive group of bullies. Contracting swine flu and dying horribly would be far too good for them.

[Stephen Blair]

 

 

How does this work Stevie??? do you mean clain the VAT in one quarter to offset your bill and then pay the invoice the next quarter?

 

i am talking about buying kit, if you buy something for 10k plus vat, you can pay the 10k, claim back the 1500 quid back first within your vat quarter then pay it to the seller. so you arent out of pocket.:001_cool:never spend your vat money or tax money, false econonmy, you think the money is yours and dont address situations when you need to because you have the little security blanket. dont wait till you are owed thousands before you start to panick, i never had arbtalk to give me priceless advice from folk who knew better than me from experience, and i suffered badly in business when i got out of my depth, you guys do have arbtalk, take it from us, unless you are as ruthless a boss as the customer you work for then keep away from it:001_smile: