Lots Of Questions From VAT man

**Emperor Dalek** · 5 September 2006, 11:42

Buy some stuff: a hard drive, a memory stick, a PDA, who cares what. Send them a copy of the invoice. Problem solved.

**oraclesmith** · 5 September 2006, 11:52

Customs and Excise is now part of the Revenue and are called HMRC. One of the reasons they need evidence of trading is to confirm you are a genuine business and not just an individual who fancies reclaiming the VAT they've paid on consumer goods. They may or may not swap information, but some notes will be linked via your VAT file.

Most business startups have to purchase a lot of infrastructure and/or goods and/or services up front so they will be expecting you to have invested in, for example some IT equipment, legal and professional services, office equipment, business stationery, software, website etc, etc, before you register for VAT. Most small businesses won't reach the threshold for VAT registration until they have been trading for a while, and for most B2C's it is beneficial to stay under it.

Why don't you just leave it until you have been trading for a while and have some of these things in place ?

**Ivor1** · 5 September 2006, 11:52

Do I need to have the company name on the invoice though ? If so must I pay with company card or can I use my own personnel one.

To be honest Im a bit suspious of whats going on as I offered copies of my insurances but that didnt cut it, she kept going on about a contract.

**Pondlife** · 5 September 2006, 11:55

Just wait until you invoice the cust for the first time (without VAT) and send them a copy of that. You can then send another invoice to the cust for the VAT portion of the original.

Job done.

**Ivor1** · 5 September 2006, 11:56

Originally posted by Pondlife

Just wait until you invoice the cust for the first time (without VAT) and send them a copy of that. You can then send another invoice to the cust for the VAT portion of the original.

Job done.

HAs to be from a third party, is there anything I can get my agency to send me, once Ive invoiced them ?

**oraclesmith** · 5 September 2006, 11:57

You can set up a Directors loan account, for your company to reimburse you for items you have purchased for the company. Ask your accountant about this.

Beware, if you use your personal account or credit card to pay for things like this, and you get investigated by the HMRC, they can ask for details of your personal bank accounts and credit card statements as well as the company ones.

The company name should be mentioned on invoices, but sometimes it is not necessary providing you can prove it was for business use only. eg. you can reclaim VAT on goods up to three years before registration and even before your company was registered if they were purchased as part of the start-up.

**simondolan** · 5 September 2006, 12:22

Originally posted by Ivor1

Ok,

I tried to register for VAT to start in October, looks like they are getting very strict now, or I have managed to get some anal retentive bod. Basically because I want to register in advance they want to see to see evidence 'from an independent third party to conifrm that it is my intention to trade'. I did say what about my 'insurances', apperently thats not enough, they want an invoice for stuff I have bought or worsted of all see my contract ! Im not worried about my contract but would rather they not see it. How linked are the VAT people and the revenue. Any ideas on the invoice front, any want to see me anything so I can charge it to my company ?

This is fairly standard stuff now from the VAT man. They were defrauded so often that they now want to see evidence of trading before giving a VAT number.

Just send them the contract - the Revenue and Customs might be called the same now, but that's all - they really haven't got it together enough to swap information, and even if they did - so what? The Revenue can ask to see a copy of your contract whenever they wish.

**expat** · 5 September 2006, 12:22

Originally posted by oraclesmith

One of the reasons they need evidence of trading is to confirm you are a genuine business and not just an individual who fancies reclaiming the VAT they've paid on consumer goods.

Surely not. You can only claim VAT paid against VAT charged, so unless you are charging VAT (i.e. you're doing business) then you won't be reclaiming so they have nothing to worry about.

I've just had the same. I invoiced with "VAT number applied for" and now I have what they want.

**ASB** · 5 September 2006, 12:27

Originally posted by expat

Surely not. You can only claim VAT paid against VAT charged

Agreed that is the normal case. But output tax and input tax are entirely seperate things. It is quite possible to have one without the other. We were net reclaimers for years. Most business was exempt with foreign bodies but that does not prevent the reclaim of associated input tax.

Maybe I just misunderstood what you were saying.

Lots Of Questions From VAT man