customer wants reciepts to claim vat back

[voivod]

Have been doing work for a customer. They are now wanting invoices from merchants so the can claim vat back . (We are not vat reg yet).
Dont really want to do this. We have added 10% to prices .
What is best way to resolve ?
Got an accountant who doesnt bloody answer phone. ( yes he will be ditched grr)
any help would be greatful

 

[gasmanrob]

They are your receipts for your accounts. If they go missing and you can't prove the receipts then it will be added to your taxable income. If they wanted they should have stated it at the start and an arrangement could have been made for them to purchase the goods themselves.

alternatively produce the receipt and if your 10% is questioned it is perfectly acceptable and done throughout most industries. Obviously you get discount from the list price plus the use of your credit facility's and time spent sourcing and obtaining materials why wouldn't you put a mark up on.

you produced a price they accepted end of

 

[hammers4spanner]

Tell them no simple as that they have bought materials via your business otherwise they should have supplied.

 

[Ray Stafford]

They can't claim the VAT back based on invoices from your merchant to you.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

i smell a fish here, as per what Ray said

there is an underlying reason why they want these?

10% is quite low IMHO for a mark up taking into consideration time spent ordering, collecting, transporting and the hassle factor is something goes wrong and needs to be returned

 

[Ray Stafford]

I can see why they would want to.

Lets say Voivod paid £1000 + VAT for the materials. Assuming he marked up the post-vat price, the customer will be paying £1320 for materials.

Whereas if he bought them himself, and claimed the VAT back, he would only have paid £1,000. So he is £320 out of pocket, of which only £120 has gone to Voivod - the chancellor has the rest.

So if he either doesn't fully understand the VAT regs, or doesn't care that much, he can at least get £200 back by (illegally) putting Voivod's receipts through his books. And he will probably get away with it unless a sharp-eyed VAT inspector picks it up.

Which is why HMRC estimate small/medium business tax fraud to cost nearly twice as much as all the big company schemes that we hear about from Google, Starbucks, Amazon etc put together.

 

[voivod]

It is a BIG company that is asking for them

 

[Ray Stafford]

It is a BIG company that is asking for them

Then they should know better.

 

[parkesy_plumb]

has the customer paid you yet?

 

[Ray Stafford]

has the customer paid you yet?

good question parkesy.

 

[rocketmanbkk]

You have not charged VAT but you have supplied &
Fitted whatever.

You have charged a price to complete a job.

If the company wanted your VAT receipts then they should have agreed this at the outset.

This is no different than you giving someone your fuel receipts so they can claim the VAT back.

Is not right, the choice is give them the receipts & or not.

I say tell them you but on account & nothing is separated. It's a no go for me, no go.

 

[clarky101]

And they didn't supply so they could use your discount.....

 

[Millsy 82]

My receipts are mine not anybody else's. You have to have them as proof of purchase as far as I'm aware. If you give them the receipts that x amount extra more tax you will have to pay. (I might have that wrong though)

If they wanted to claim the VAT back they should of gone with a VAT registered company. There problem not yours.

 

[rocketmanbkk]

Correct

 

[markfxy]

tell them to do one your receipts are for you and nobody else and next time put a 30% markup on your materials, 10% won't even cover your costs

 

[erpkid]

Looks like they want it both ways. The VAT obviously and then the downstream hassle for you if the bits don't work. We are VAT registered so don't care either way but at least you have a get out when the bathstore ( or similar feel free to fill in ) c**p has an issue.

 

[kozak1968]

Why don't you give them an invoice for labour and materials. He would then use that to claim anything back?

 

[rocketmanbkk]

Do you get a lot of work from the custard? If so,??

If not, get paid & block them.

 

[Millsy 82]

Why don't you give them an invoice for labour and materials. He would then use that to claim anything back?

If you don't charge vat then they can't get that back though?

 

[Chalked]

The only way they can claim back the vat, is if the invoices were invoiced to them, in their business name. Yours are no use to them.

 

[Ray Stafford]

The only way they can claim back the vat, is if the invoices were invoiced to them, in their business name. Yours are no use to them.

This is true. However, if the OP paid cash, and the VAT invoice was issued without a name on, then the customer might get away with it. But it still wouldn't make it legal, and thats just another fraction of a penny tax each that the rest of us have to pay.

 

[voivod]

Told them cant give them our invoices as we need them and they wouldn't be able to claim vat back from our receipts.
They have asked us to invoice for the materials separately as they can claim from that???
Not vat registered and my fn accountant now seems deaf n invisible to my questions about this grrr

 

[SimonG]

Tell them you will ask the vat mans thoughts on this directly, mentioning names. They might not be so keen then.

 

[Chalked]

Told them cant give them our invoices as we need them and they wouldn't be able to claim vat back from our receipts.
They have asked us to invoice for the materials separately as they can claim from that???
Not vat registered and my fn accountant now seems deaf n invisible to my questions about this grrr

Waste of time. They can't claim the vat content of your invoice.

 

[stevetheplumber]

if they are stopping you tax from the money then it benifits you to split the bill up as you dont pay tax on materials. If they are claiming it as a taxable expense they will still get at least 20%back on the whole bill rather than just the labour part and the vat back so there isnt much in it for them either way Imight be wrong but if they pay tax at more than 20% they will be better of if its a limited company then its all different

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

sounds like you need a new accountant???

Invoice them separately for the labour and materials and then go your separate ways

But I must emphasis that all plumbers should add 15-25% onto materials. That's why trade accounts give you discounts (amongst other reasons)

You get a better price than Joe public and as you supplied it you get the hassle if something goes wrong, especially when the symptoms of the issue could be installation or faulty product, still costs an hour or two

 

[rocketmanbkk]

It also sounds like this company/custard has no idea what they can/can't claim back!

I wouldn't be wasting my time going back & forth with them.

Tell them straight, they've got your invoice, you want paying.

 

[village idiot]

Whatever they want to do is their problem.
Send them an invoice for the job as standard.

 

[voivod]

amazing how all the big stuff we price for for them...they can supposedly get cheaper.
£16k worth of cast rads.....they can get for 3.5k cheaper ...grr

 

[Millsy 82]

amazing how all the big stuff we price for for them...they can supposedly get cheaper.
£16k worth of cast rads.....they can get for 3.5k cheaper ...grr

That's probably because they are getting the VAT back on theirs which off 16k of rads would be around 3 grand.

 

[voivod]

yeh....better being labour only .....let them sort out sizes n finding out prices

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

tell them to contact Pimlico for some invoices so they can claim too.

 

[markfxy]

yeh....better being labour only .....let them sort out sizes n finding out prices

better off finding work for someone else and put 30% on materials anything less isn't worth getting out of bed for