Running a business comes with lots of responsibilities – and understanding the VAT system is one of them. It’s important to understand when VAT registration applies, and why some businesses choose to register voluntarily, even if they’re not required to. What is VAT? VAT is a government tax added to most goods and services by […]
One of the fastest growing areas of tax evasion is VAT fraud. This involves individuals illegally avoiding or evading Value Added Tax (VAT), usually by not paying VAT owed, claiming VAT refunds or collecting VAT from customers but not submitting it. One area where tax evasion is growing is among small businesses, and a significant […]
HMRC has introduced a new interactive online business tool, alongside clearer guidance for self-employed individuals and those exploring self-employment opportunities. Designed to support new and established sole traders, the free tool provides detailed insights into record-keeping requirements, relevant business taxes and other essential information, such as how to pay tax bills. This could help whether […]
Understanding whether to register your small business for VAT can be confusing. You might need to consider your current revenue, how much you plan to grow, and your customer base. Recent research has shown that 26,000 businesses are delaying their growth plans to avoid hitting the VAT threshold, with concern about increased costs and admin […]
The current VAT system has long been criticised as being too complicated. But with an election looming should this be a focus for Government in the coming years, especially in the light of other overly complex tax regimes such as Inheritance Tax which appear to have been sidelined? VAT, or Value Added Tax, is levied […]
The VAT threshold, the point at which you must register for VAT, has remained at £85,000 for some time despite the fact we’ve seen double digit inflation. There is now concern that this ceiling is stunting economic growth and may be forcing some business to close their doors. The main issue relates to those businesses that have taken an active decision to remain below the threshold because they fear registering for VAT would make them uncompetitive.
Recently released data would suggest that things remain tough in the economy as the number of insolvencies in August was the highest in that month in four years and the number of VAT and PAYE registered businesses overall dropped by almost 40,000.
It’s an interesting question isn’t it. In the UK we’re used to things being relatively cut and dried when it comes to VAT. There is the prevailing rate (currently 20%), zero rated VAT, (0%), VAT exempt (equally 0% but needs to be identified differently to Zero rated) and then the odd few idiosyncrasies such as energy at 5%. But by and large, the overwhelming majority of transactions will be either standard rate, 20%, or zero rated, 0%. That is unless you deal with someone like Amazon, who, it would appear, have been able to agree some of their own rates with HMRC.
When you split a business to avoid registering for VAT it is called disaggregation and HMRC can perceive this to be deliberate tax avoidance, which carries penalties and could see them treating all the individual businesses as a single entity and taxing them all equally. However, there are legitimate situations whereby disaggregation is acceptable and appropriate.
Plans to increase the frequency of reporting by the self-employed and small businesses, under the Governments Making Tax Digital (MTD) scheme, have been delayed. The next phase of roll out for MTD would have seen self-employed and small business required to maintain digital records and report their income to HMRC every quarter from April 2023. […]
Whilst there no longer appears to be anything that is truly unusual in the current climate, the Chancellor took the unusual decision to cancel November’s planned budget statement and delivered a Winter Economy Plan in its place. This move once again underlines the lack of long-term certainty that the Covid pandemic is enforcing on the […]
***UPDATE*** The Government has delayed implementation of reverse charge VAT for construction until October 2020 Original article: Companies in the construction sector need to be aware of changes which are being introduced on 1st October 2019. These changes will affect any VAT-registered construction business that: Buys in construction services from other builders and makes an […]