July 29th, 2010
With VAT and taxes set to rise, it is a gloomy time for the British public. When it is then announced that British Gas have almost doubled their profits in the first half of 2010 and have no plans to reduce energy prices, it is unsurprising that there have been a significant number of angry consumers.
In the first six months of 2010 it has been reported that pre-tax profits have increased by 98% since last year. We experienced the coldest winter in 30 years which meant that energy use rose by 8%. British Gas benefited from larger profit margins due to energy costs being lower.
As well as dealing with increased VAT and taxes, people have now also been warned that their utility payments will also be higher. Although British Gas have said that they will do what they can do maintain lower prices for their customers, with energy costs set to increase in the second half of the year they may well be charging more. They have defended this by reiterating that they were the first energy company to offer lower prices in February 2010 and that this attracted 223,000 new customers resulting in such high profits.
Tags: Tax, VAT
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April 26th, 2010
HMRC carry out visits or VAT inspections that are either pre arranged, ‘walk in’ unannounced visits or approved by Tribunal. Each visit type indicates to some degree HMRC’s view of the business, for example an unannounced visit is generally triggered by HMRC perceiving that a business does not correctly account for VAT. Needless to say such visits are the cause of much anxiety for even the most VAT compliant business.
HMRC have now issued a series of fact sheets explaining the nature of the visits that they carry out. However, for a more user friendly explanation of how a VAT visit will be conducted, advice on how to deal with any queries or assessments HMRC may have raised after a VAT inspection, or for a pre VAT visit health check to identify any VAT issues/opportunities our VAT consultants are ready to assist you. Call our free VAT helpline to discuss how the VAT consultants at the VAT People can help you.
Tags: HMRC vat inspection, VAT inspection
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April 21st, 2010
It is often assumed that minor details don’t matter that much, but unfortunately with VAT a minor change if not noted can lead to a big and unexpected VAT bill. Take for example HMRC’s latest change for zero rating to caravans which is driven (no pun intended) by EC changes to towing regulations. Up to 20 April 2010 caravans more than 2.3 meters wide were zero rated for VAT, from 20 April 2010 only caravans over 2.55 meters wide qualify for zero rating, ones below 2.55 meters will be standard rated for VAT. The minimum length for zero rating to apply will remain at 7 metres long.
This increase in the width of a mere 25 centimetres could lead to caravan vendors under declaring substantial amounts of VAT if not taken into account. If you have any clients that sell caravans, or any clients where the nature of their supplies can be VATable or not depending on seemingly minor details please do not hesitate to use or free VAT helpline for an initial free VAT consultation from one of the VAT Peoples VAT consultants.
Tags: caravan vendors vat, VAT Consultants, vat on caravans, Zero rated VAT
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April 15th, 2010
Having a listed building can save you VAT! It is possible to get alteration work to certain listed buildings zero rated for VAT in specific circumstances. Following advice from one of our VAT consultants a charity client has benefited by implementing a planning idea that allows them to gain major improvements to a listed building that they hold VAT free. This will allow the client to put the VAT saved to better use as they now have more funds to carry out their activities. If you have a client who is going to carry out work on a listed building, please give our free VAT advice helpline a call on 0870 420 8971 for an initial consultation.
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April 12th, 2010
The VAT People save the day, or at least we saved the client a lot of VAT…our VAT consultants have been successful in gaining one charity client a reclaim in excess of £225k VAT. The client was particularly grateful as they had faced a potential assessment for £40k VAT! This turnaround was achieved by our VAT consultant identifying that the client had historically failed to claim input VAT in full that it was entitled to and was using a method of estimating output VAT that resulted in a substantial overpayment of VAT to HMRC.
Charities are unfortunate in that their activities, the VAT implications, and indeed the legislation relating to their activities, are highly complex.
Using an experienced VAT consultant from The VAT People can prove highly cost effective in identifying potential exposures, advising on action to take to minimise the exposure and, of course, checking to ensure that VAT due to the charity is not needlessly lost. If you have a client who is a charity or not for profit organisation, whether or not VAT registered, it would be worth seeking advice from The VAT People. Give us a call on our famous free VAT helpline for an initial, no strings attached, conversation.
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April 10th, 2010
All change! Just when businesses had almost got to grips with the complex place of supply rules relating to accounting for VAT on supplies of services it has all, or mostly, changed! With effect from 1 January 2010, the basic rule for business to business supplies of services has changed, as have the rules relating to a whole myriad of other supplies of services. In addition there is a new statistical requirement to fill in EC Sales Lists for services deemed to be outside the scope of VAT supplied to customers in other EC countries. If you and/or your clients are bemused when trying to fathom these complex rule changes please give one of our VAT consultants a call on The VAT People’s now legendary free helpline.
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April 6th, 2010
HMRC have announced a simplification to the partial exemption de-minimis rules for businesses. Whilst any simplification to this technically complex area is of course welcome, it would be a far greater help if the annual de-minimis limit of not more than £7,500 VAT per annum (pro rated at £625 per month) and not more than 50% of the total VAT can relate to exempt supplies was updated.
The £7,500 VAT limit was a fairly generous ceiling when it was first introduced but now is not that much in the scheme of things, consequently it is easy to breech with potentially disastrous results in terms of loss of VAT recovery. If you have clients that are in receipt or will receive VAT exempt income it is always worth checking the impact on their VAT recovery position, contact our VAT consultants at The VAT People for more advice.
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February 17th, 2010
The VAT People would like to bring to your attention their free helpline which helps firms all over the country. Whether you have a quick question about VAT or have a more complex VAT issue, please get in touch – the number is 0870 420 8971.
Remember, the helpline is free and one of our highly trained VAT consultants is waiting to talk you through any issues and give you options as to what to do next.
Tags: VAT consultancy, VAT Consultants
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