[the red carpet]

Hi all,
Just sat here wondering if i now need to register for vat?

My Aug turnover was £4880, and fingers crossed it should stay that way or improve

12 x £4880 = £58,560

Is the vat threshold still £58,000? if so when do i have to register?

Also if i dont have to yet, would it be of much benifit to me to register early?, as iv just brought a van for £4700 and am getting a t/m for £11000.

[calmore]

I *think* the VAT theshold is £60K now, but please double check.

[calmore]

Also remember that Jan/Feb will be slack so probably nowhere near £4800 turnover for those months.

[Liahona]

Is there a reason you wouldnt want to be registerd. We moan and rightly so about the price of fuel so why not get a pounds worth for 82 1/2 p. Thats without chemicals and machines and just about everyhting. I registered for vat before I was trading and accordingly the first year the vat man paid me back over £8,000.  For some people thats two months work for others it is four months etc. Even if you only earn £20, 000 a year it would make sense to be vat registered. You wont lose customers as they pay vat on everything else anyway. If you want to get into commercial work in some cases they wouldnt have you clean for them if you werent registered. So it realy has nothing to do with any amount of monies you make. Best, Dave.

[Art]

If you want to get into commercial work in some cases they wouldnt have you clean for them if you werent registered. So it realy has nothing to do with any amount of monies you make. Best, Dave.

This is a comment i see in all parts of the forum from time to time.

If your a one man band or a small company which most on here are, why would being vat registered make such a difference?

Arthur

[the red carpet]

Calmore, hopefully in a few more months £4880 will be a slack month

[Kev Loomes]

Hi Red

Whatever your doing, keep up the good work! I take it you got the leasing ok from that other company? Which one was it if you dont mind me asking? or did you manage to buy it in the end?

Are going for the 25?

[Liahona]

Art, if you take out the bit about commercial work then just re-read the post I did. For everything (vatted of course) that an unregistered person buys that costs £100 only costs a registered person £87:50. Isnt that reason enough to register????Best, Dave.

[Art]

Hi Dave,

 I know the bit about what you can claim back ( it would be £82.50 for evey £100)
Totally agree with you there, but as i said there's been a number of quotes about customers not using you if your not vat registered. I was just curious as to why this should be the case?

Arthur

[Spot On cleaning]

Regarding vat, i was told on a self employment course that if the threshold is as mentioned £60000 and you earn say £55000 in twelve months, you might think that you do not have to register for vat, but apparantly they can take the thirteenth month into consideration which will push you over the limit thus forcing you to register.

This is probably obvious to some but might be useful for those who don't know. If you are vat registered though, what happens if you claim more vat back that what you claim from customers and also are your accounts fees higher?

Dave

[Liahona]

Spot on, then you would get a refund, within about 10 days, yes they pay you that quickly. If you mean does your accountant charge you more for doing the vat return, of course, but then you charge more for cleaning 5 rooms instead of 4 so its just the same. Art, it could just be that if you are registered they can claim the vat back. Cos they are looking to always off set what they charge. If you arent registered then you dont offer them any bonus so to speak. I hope this makes sense, best, Dave.

[Buster Ingram]

Good advice Dave VAT is a subject I have steered away from for many years I hasten to ad. Bookkeeping has never been my best forte. I prefer marketing and leave the nasty bits to others.

[carpetclean]

red i take it you do not have an accountant !? it would be prudent to get one if you give me a bell on 07801 354 539 or email me i will give you the number of a man who has saved me thousands each year .

[the red carpet]

Hi Peter, your right this is one thing i still havent sorted out, been meaning to for ages and am really pushing it now as iv been going a year in a couple weeks.

Formula6, Dont know the name of the company as i used the same guy who sorted out the finance on my van, hes like a broker or watever you call it. (will let you know when i get the paperwork through if you like) I ended up getting aproved by three different companys in the end :

The one im going with is a hire purchase deal, i have to pay the vat up front as a deposit, and then just under £250 a month, this is what made me think about registering for vat as i would then get that deposit back.

Going for the 25 so i have the option of using dual tools.

[Ian Rochester]

In the eyes of the Taxman you need to register for VAT if your turnover in a rolling 12 month period is above, or is likely to be above £61,000 (2006 level)

The reason you are allowed to not register for VAT if you are below this level was to give the small operator an advantage when pricing in order to get themselves established.

ie: Carpet cleaned for £35 by someone not vat registered, would need to be priced at £41.12 by a vat registered company.  If you deal mainly with commercial this is not a problem as they can claim in back, however if you deal with domestic and they are price conscious, then you may well lose a lot of potential work because of the extra you are having to charge.

Personally I think they should abolish the VAT threshold and make everyone pay vat and reclaim vat from day one.

In some cases you can also opt for flat rate VAT which means that you pay a lower rate of vat on your turnover (normally around 10%) but you are not allowed to reclaim any vat against your purchases.  This can be ideal in certain businesses where your actual overheads are minimal, cleaning is a prime example as the main costs there are only labour

[John Kelly]

Personally think it is an advantage to be vat registered. Ok you have to add 17.5 to your prices but even if you didn't increase your price you would still be reducing your taxable income so would benefit from paying lower income tax.
Anybody thinking of resgistering don't forget you can claim vat back on purchases retrospectively, can't remember exactly how far back you can go.

[Liahona]

John, I went back four months so at least it can be done that far back, best, Dave.

[calmore]

Calmore, hopefully in a few more months £4880 will be a slack month

Yeah, we can but dream...!

[calmore]

Art, if you take out the bit about commercial work then just re-read the post I did. For everything (vatted of course) that an unregistered person buys that costs £100 only costs a registered person £87:50.

However, an unregistered person doesn't have to give some of their income to the VAT man so it's swings and roundabouts!

[jasonl]

On capital items, eg vehicles, machinery etc you can claim the input VAT up to 3 years from the invoice date, if you are mostly commercial , I would say register and claim now.