Vat Registration

Without registering for vat purpose a business cannot claim its input vat paid on its business purchases and cannot charge output vat on its supplies.

There are two types of registration

Compulsory Registration:

As the name suggests, compulsory registration is where the business becomes legally responsible for registering for VAT. If a business taxable supplies exceed £82,000 during the previous 12 months it must register for VAT if. This is called compulsory registration. However, VAT registration is not required if taxable supplies in the following 12 months will not exceed £80,000.

A business must also register for VAT, If there are reasonable grounds to believe that taxable supplies will exceed £82,000 during the following 30 days.

You must register within 30 days of your business turnover exceeding the threshold. If you register late, you must pay at the point of registration, what you owe from when you should have registered.

Voluntary Registration:

A business may decide to voluntarily VAT Registration even when taxable supplies are below than registration limit i.e. £82,000. This is called voluntary registration.

This would be beneficial when:
1. The business makes zero-rated supplies. Output VAT will not be due but all input VAT suffered will become recoverable.
2. The business makes supplies to VAT registered customers. Input VAT will be reclaimed and the output VAT will be charged to those customers who can recover vat from HMRC. So when going for registration it is an important point to consider that whether or not output VAT can be passed on to customers by raising sale prices.

If you are getting confused about whether you should register or not don’t worry, we are here to help you out. We will ensure that you receive the best advice based on your circumstances.

VAT Schemes for Small business:

1. Cash Accounting:
Cash accounting scheme is a scheme where

– VAT will be paid on sales when you recover your money against sales.
– VAT will be reclaimed on purchases when you will pay to your supplier.

2. Annual Accounting:
With the annual accounting scheme you submit single VAT Return once a year. The benefit for registering in annual scheme is reduced administrative burden, which is favorable for small and medium sized organization.

3. Flat Rate Scheme:
A scheme where output is calculated by applying a reduced fixed flat-rate percentage on gross turnover and no input vat could be reclaimed. However fixed-rate percentage is normally below than the standard rate, which varies depending on the type of business.

Can You Recover PRE-REGISTRATION INPUT VAT?

The answer is yes, Weaccountax can help you with this. Pre-registration input vat will be claimable upon:

1. Non-current assets/stock purchased within 4 years before the date of registration and still owned at the date of registration.
2. Upon all the services purchased within 6 months before date of registration.

• Name and VAT Numbers (if applicable) of all the businesses where you or other directors of the company are owners / Partners or Directors
• Estimated turnover for the next 12 months
• Trading address of the business (not the registered office)
• Director’s Full Name
• Director’s NI number
• Director’s Date of Birth
• Director’s Current Home address and also previous address if the director has lived at current home address for less than 3 years.