Vat

[helpsy]

On the verge of having to register for VAT. Any advice/help would be welcome.

 

[Rickster123]

Don't.


advice over!

 

[Ermintrude]

Do it. All vat is good booster for mr Cameron

 

[Mike Jackson]

get customer to buy materials. Avoid vatman like the plague.

 

[Chris F]

Never EVER go vat registered. Just get a good accountant who can keep you out of it. Or be less honest

 

[townfanjon]

Yep i would agree wi the lads above, DONT, unless you realy have to

 

[mfgs]

If you are looking to expand your business then you will have to become VAT registered at some point. If you are sticking as a one man band sole trader then try and keep under the VAT threshold if possible

 

[wildcard]

I've never been vat reg,but every tradesman I have spoken to has regretted it.You loose a lot more work when you stick 20% on.If you think your going to hit the threshold of £75k(I think) you can start up a second company & run 2 non vat reg companies(so an accountant tells me).

 

[brum]

Think you've been given duff info.If it were right every tradesman would run two businesses,one for domestic householder work ie joe public,And the other for sub contact work to builders etc

No vat for Joe vat for builder everyone happy.

When I was VAT registered as a sole trader any business I undertook was liable to VAT although this was a while ago I should imagine things should pretty much the same you cannae beat the system just have to work with it ..brum

 

[Chalked]

I've never been vat reg,but every tradesman I have spoken to has regretted it.You loose a lot more work when you stick 20% on.If you think your going to hit the threshold of £75k(I think) you can start up a second company & run 2 non vat reg companies(so an accountant tells me).

Can only be done with separate office, vans, address. Too much hastle.
if you just do servicing, repairs, bathrooms etc. try to keep out of vat. If you do new build and supply materials, your too expensive if your not registered.

I'm vat registered, do a mixture of everything. It's never stopped me getting work. Makes you think if you de registered, you could get away with 20% more labour charge!

 

[Dusty23]

Hi Guys , got to say this is a very interesting thread , about a crud subject .It is someting we have been toying with , 3 man op , and it is getting close when being real .

sorry for hijacking .

cheers

 

[hammers4spanner]

20% return on materiald tho

 

[erpkid]

Don't understand the resistance to being vat registered. Before we went registered customers would want something off for cash. Now they offer cash to avoid vat so no real chiselling. Obviously this is something we would never entertain.

On the other hand your van gets 20 % better mileage and all those lovely tools are cheaper......

 

[lame plumber]

cheaper for you, but your customers dont like the 20% showing on their invoices, me I just took a month off and then you break the rolling turnover for a bit.

 

[Ray Stafford]

If you plan to stay small, then there are a variety of tricks you can use to stay under the thresshold. However, they all say "I am a business that is never going to grow".

If you have aspirations to grow your business, then you don't have to like it, but you have to learn to live with it.

 

[erpkid]

As a one man band you can fend off the beast but anyone employing even a labourer should be smashing the limit unless they are lucky enough to be part time or not charging enough. Domestic customers don't need to see vat breakdown just the value/price of your service. Commercial customers don't care.

 

[lame plumber]

If you plan to stay small, then there are a variety of tricks you can use to stay under the thresshold. However, they all say "I am a business that is never going to grow".

If you have aspirations to grow your business, then you don't have to like it, but you have to learn to live with it.

Ray speaks the truth, I personally live well as a one man band, having had the hassle of employees in the passed Im to old to bother with that again. If your going to grow it is just another hurdle to jump through and doing the returns isnt hard, just monotonous, but get it wrong and excitement will follow from various sources.

re domestic customers not having to see vat breakdowns, dont believe everything you read on the web

 

[MOSSEP]

Do it, everything you need for work becomes VAT free then! I love it....

 

[helpsy]

Thanks guys. The threshold is currently £81000.

 

[stratplus]

Thanks guys. The threshold is currently £81000.

You guys earning £81k a year?? Jesus

 

[PlumbersMate]

You guys earning £81k a year?? Jesus

Na, per week

 

[PlumbersMate]

You guys earning £81k a year?? Jesus

Thing is I reckon 81k is not too hard to reach. Even if you only fit 1 boiler per month, that's about £10k already

 

[PETE 123]

Thing is I reckon 81k is not too hard to reach. Even if you only fit 1 boiler per month, that's about £10k already

ITS BASED ON TURNOVER NOT WHAT YOU BUY SO ABOVE IS MORE LIKE £25K

 

[erpkid]

That is what got us the turnover bit. With higher end stuff you don't appear very professional asking them to buy the gear. I remember wincing as they picked 400 quid taps and various high priced doo hickeys. At the time I ran a turnover spreadsheet and winced as it inched up , don't forget it is a running 12 months. Once I had a partner in the business the spreadsheet was moot.

 

[stratplus]

So is this 81k labour only profit?

 

[helpsy]

You guys earning £81k a year?? Jesus

Turnover....NOT profit.

 

[helpsy]

So is this 81k labour only profit?

Turnover

 

[stratplus]

So that includes materials brought.

 

[stevetheplumber]

its turnover so everything that comes in counts one vailant a week is 52k
ive been in and out of vat over the years since it started mainly voluntary registration when it was needed at one time new heating systems were zero rated so was a necessary and on the few occasions i bought high priced vans registered for the minimum period and then deregistered not sure you would get away with it now but since i bought a van for£600 today its not going to break the bank

 

[stratplus]

I'm going to look into doing a business course next year. I'm pretty clueless tbh on starting a business

 

[LPC]

Get another accountant!

 

[plumb_know]

I'm going to look into doing a business course next year. I'm pretty clueless tbh on starting a business

I have just started up on my own 6months ago and felt the same at the beginning, but started to get there now. Biggest advice I would give is get decent accountant. Saved me more money than he costs already and is very helpful if I'm not sure of anything. Keeping good books aswell makes it cheaper.