VAT quote and a wedding

budgetwobbler

Hi,

Can anybody help who knows about VAT law?

I am getting married in less than two weeks and our venue has sent us a new invoice £1000 extra, there was no explanation so I phoned the venue and they explained it was VAT.
However when we initiallly booked the organiser said all prices were including VAT and all quotes and invoices have not stated VAT inclusive or exclusive event the latest one. I took his word and it looks like it was now worth it.
Anyway, I am going to have to pay for this as it is a bit late to get a new venue, but do I have a leg to stand on in terms of getting this money back from the small claims court after the wedding?

Many thanks for you time,

Tom

maninthestreet

£1000 VAT means that the wedding cost, without VAT, would have been £5714 - is that what they originally quoted you?

budgetwobbler

Hi, thanks for your reply.

Yes, they quoted us an amount without the 17% about 10 times and only now do we get the one with the 17% added, in fact it did not state VAT added it just did not add up. I called them to question if they had added up wrong and thats when they said the extra was VAT that they had forgot to add in all the other quotes.

I used £1000 as a example, cant remember the exact figures.

Cheers,

Tom

Petmidget

This seems rather odd. What is the venue is terms of type of establishment.

Anywhere hosting weddings would assume the booker isnt vat registered and quote the vat inclusive price, its not like businesses can get married.

Was the original quote a round sum or an odd amount. If the original quote is odd add on the 17.5% and do you get something round, if this is the case it sounds as though you have been quoted net by accident.

They may be trying to pull a fast one as they have under quoted, ie original quote did include vat but they have cocked up on price and this is best excuse to increase price on you.

Do you have wedding insurance, can they help.

Personally I would play hardball, they arent going to get a fresh booking at this late stage so you could threaten to back out or at least compromise. But I smell a rat, an opportunist one at that.

rjm2k1

There must have been price lists for menus, conditions of booking etc? They should say whether or not VAT is included in the prices, you should be able to work it our from that info.

budgetwobbler

Hi, thanks again for your help.

All the paper work price lists etc said nothing about VAT inclusive or exclusive, only had the guys word that the prices included VAT.

I guess like mentioned previous that they must have underpriced and are trying to get some money back, the venue has only been doing weddings about 6 months.

The trouble is there is not much time to do anything about our day now and they have us over a barrell. I guess next time it is something to watch out for, not that I will be getting married again (I hope )

Cheers,

Tom

JasonLVC

It is very very unusual, as Petmidget has stated, for a business such as a hotel which is selling to an individual (not a business) to not quote an all inculsive price.

Indeed, unless otherwise stated, any quote is deemed to be VAT inclusive and so if the venue can show you on paperwork where it has stated that VAT is to be added on top, then you MUST assume it was a VAT inclusive quote.

So the total wedding cost will be approx. £6,714 of which £1,000 is VAT. I think this is quite naughty of them this late into proceedings. I assume they have previously issued you with an invoice for £5,714 and/or an invoice for the deposit.

If that is the case, VAT should have been charged on both the deposit and any previous invoice. If VAT was not charged then that is THERE error and there is nothing in law they can do to correct this.

If they've only been going 6 months it may be that when you were quoted they were not VAT registered and since then have become VAT registered. Nonetheless, any quotes pre registration still stand UNLESS the apperwork states that they have the right to charge VAT should they become registered. (I doubt this will be the case as businesses who register NEVER do this in my experience).

If they quoted £x and they now want £y then they are breaching the terms of the contract (so more to do with contract law rather than VAT specifically) and would be liable should you wish to push this matter through the courts. You may want to meet them halfway and offer to pay half the amount, the remainder being paid by them as a gesture of goodwill.

budgetwobbler

Hi all,

Thanks again for your advice.

I got home tonight and went through all the paper work again and found an orignal food price sheet. It says "the above price is for a four course meal of your choice with VAT @ 17.5% added".

I guess it is down to semantics but the fact it states a definite figure should mean that it has been added, does anybody agree with this?

Thanks again!

Tom

rjm2k1

Sounds like the vat was already included in the price.

JasonLVC

budgetwobbler wrote: »

Hi all,

Thanks again for your advice.

I got home tonight and went through all the paper work again and found an orignal food price sheet. It says "the above price is for a four course meal of your choice with VAT @ 17.5% added".

I guess it is down to semantics but the fact it states a definite figure should mean that it has been added, does anybody agree with this?

Thanks again!

Tom

If it says that the price has had VAT added, then it means the price is VAT inclusive - it is not semantics. If it says VAT "to be added afterwards" then that is different.

Sounds like this venue has royally screwed up their quotes and forgot to include VAT - plain and simple error on their behalf or they are trying to scam you - but they'd be making a big mistake in contract law to now come back and ask for VAT having already told you VAT was already added.

If they don't get the hint that you don't want to pay, suggest you mention that you'll take this up with HMRC as it looks like they have poor systems and are due a full inspection visit!. As Gordon Brown is so desperate for cash now, he will send his minions out whenever they think they can make a buck.

Trying_to_be_good

When I was looking at wedding venues earlier in the year many of them seemed to list prices without VAT, but being a paranoid moneysaver-type I always asked if it did include VAT to check. I'm not surprised the original menu choices etc excluded VAT, but if you have paperwork with quotes for the whole event, that shoudl make it very clear if VAT has not yet been added.