Shops quietly take back the cut in Vat

dzug1

divadee wrote: »

a company i know hasnt passed the rate cut on as they still have to pay a fixed rate of vat. they pay a flat rate of 6% and dont claim any vat back because of this, so how is a company supposed to lower there rate when it hasnt been lowered?

They should be able to renegotiate their fixed rate - it won't have been set in stone forever

Lifeisbutadream

Pennywise wrote: »

Not all of them. Convenience stores, post offices, etc. for example, have seen no change at all in their fixed rate. There are many business sectors where the rate only fell by 0.5% or 1.0%.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2008/businessqa.pdf

(Question 12)

If the flat rate isnt suitable for them they can change at any time to the usual rate so that they do not lose out.

A._Badger

It night help if HM Revenue and Customs' website wasn't an impenetrable, labyrinthine maze, where information is nigh-on impossible to find, and their telephone 'help' staff hadn't apparently undergone training in how to be as officious, obstructive and unhelpful as possible.

Kenny4315

Half the staff in the shops can't calculate the new price at 15% VAT, which is the case when they have literature priced before the cut. Happily I am there to guide them on there way.......although many don't seem to see it like that .... especially the store managers who probably have I directive to use the old price and pocket the VAT as profit.

Naughty Naughty ....

Pennywise

dzug1 wrote: »

They should be able to renegotiate their fixed rate - it won't have been set in stone forever

Fixed rates are set in stone - there is no negotiation. HMRC publish a list and you take it or leave it.

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

If the flat rate isnt suitable for them they can change at any time to the usual rate so that they do not lose out.

Yes of course they can, but that may well cost them even more money/hassle - the whole point of the flat rate scheme was to simplify and ease the burdens of being an unpaid tax collector.

At the very least, the flat rate schemes should have been properly adjusted so that the businesses affected could reduce their prices by the full 2.5% vat reduction and not lose out by it. Sadly, for some businesses, they can't cut their prices and it is grossly unfair that they're being slagged off and potentially "named & shamed" for something that isn't their fault.