HMRC Ban credit card oayments

brewerdave wrote: »

I think it unlikely that the holiday cos. will refuse payment by cc. Too much business to be lost !!

Agreed - also, holiday companies have the freedom to adjust their pricing to accommodate the removal of the surcharging option (whereas tax bills are transparently fixed), so chances are that they'll already have built this into their pricing models, reflecting the fact that, in the absence of CC surcharging, this is now likely to be a much more appealing payment method for most people.

eskbanker wrote: »

Agreed - also, holiday companies have the freedom to adjust their pricing to accommodate the removal of the surcharging option (whereas tax bills are transparently fixed), so chances are that they'll already have built this into their pricing models, reflecting the fact that, in the absence of CC surcharging, this is now likely to be a much more appealing payment method for most people.

Not as much "freedom" as they had before to charge a surcharge or offer a discount as the please!! An independant agency I use for flight tickets says he will still offer lower pricing to people like me that pay by bank transfer (or debit card).

tastyhog wrote: »

so what has happened to the tax and VAT if applicable that you have already got and have been putting aside to pay your tax bill?

I don't know any business that dutifully "sets aside" funds as you suggest. The exception would be where you operate a true client account (eg as a solicitor) where you always you never own the funds in question and must keep them separately accounted for.

In the OP's case, perhaps the VAT he has charged on invoices hasn't been paid yet... perhaps he's financing his business with it by paying down an overdraft. Perhaps the business is seasonal and tax bills just happen to hit at the worst time of the cylcle (though to some extent you can change tax/vat periods).

Many businesses leave these calculations until the last minute and then don't have the monies available (or find they have more than enough). Corporation tax is sufficiently complicated that unless you are an accountant, it can be a little unpredictable what you have to pay. In my own case, my accountant has just calculated my corporation tax which is payable in a month or so and it is much less that I expected because I had forgotten that a large chunk of income this year was accrued for in the previous year. These things happen.

So, for many businesses, tax bills fall due at various times just as other bills fall due. When cash is tight, you prioritise and take advantage of paying by CC if you can.

Weybridge78 wrote: »

This is a bit of an asinine comment to make isn't it?

You may think so I don't. It may also cause a problem for some who may no longer be able to pay by cc for other things that normally charge for using a credit card. A charge which many may be prepared to pay to get them protection.

To be clear, I have absolutely nothing against credit cards (well apart from the mess some people can get themselves into with them) and use mine for everything possible. Always pay it off, get cashback, get interest on the money for an extra month approx in savings, what's not to like?

The big stores factor in the cc charges in their prices, we can't expect HMRC to do that or other gov bodies. If holiday cos remove the cc charges, then I will pay for my holiday by cc, but as their charges were quite large if they absorb them then anyone who doesn't or can't pay by cc is being ripped off.

eskbanker wrote: »

I can understand why businesses would be tempted to do this but understood it to be against the new regulations in that discounting for certain payment types is obviously equivalent to surcharging for others....

I think his point was that he will simply ignore the law. He won't overtly advertise discounts/surcharges, but if people haggle - or for people he knows well and gives special pricing, then he'll do a deal for non-CC.