VAT on a vehicle I've purchased.

brittle

My partner and I bought a used van this week, a high roof ex-works vehicle which we intend to convert into a motorhome.

The price was very fair and included a full MOT/Road Tax/12 month warranty, so we are well pleased.

We received is a VAT receipt with our purchase paperwork. We are not VAT registered and have no intention of using the van for business purposes, which leaves me with a couple of quandries. Does anyone know whether we can reclaim the VAT portion of the purchase price and how would we go about it?

It is no big deal if we can't, but that leads to the next query, should we sell the van on, before the 'log book' is changed to state motorhome, would we have to pay the Govt. VAT on the price we raised?

The dealer we bought from was a really nice chap and explained that he added the VAT into the purchase price as standard on vehicles rather than displaying a +Vat price, but he had no idea how to go about the vat query as he usually sells to businesses........
Any advice or opinions welcomed, but please be nice to me, I'm new to the site and forums in general..... Many thanks, L.

dzug1

You can't claim the VAT back

You wouldn't have to pay VAT if you sold it.

Both answers on the assumption (as you stated) you are not VAT registered

kevinyork

Hi

No, if you are not VAT registered and the VAN is not for business purposes then you cannot recover the VAT. If you remain not VAT registered and dont use it for business then you wont have to charge or account for VAT on its sale.

Kev

goldspanners

brittle wrote: »

My partner and I bought a used van this week, a high roof ex-works vehicle which we intend to convert into a motorhome.

The price was very fair and included a full MOT/Road Tax/12 month warranty, so we are well pleased.

We received is a VAT receipt with our purchase paperwork. We are not VAT registered and have no intention of using the van for business purposes, which leaves me with a couple of quandries. Does anyone know whether we can reclaim the VAT portion of the purchase price and how would we go about it?

It is no big deal if we can't, but that leads to the next query, should we sell the van on, before the 'log book' is changed to state motorhome, would we have to pay the Govt. VAT on the price we raised?

The dealer we bought from was a really nice chap and explained that he added the VAT into the purchase price as standard on vehicles rather than displaying a +Vat price, but he had no idea how to go about the vat query as he usually sells to businesses........
Any advice or opinions welcomed, but please be nice to me, I'm new to the site and forums in general..... Many thanks, L.

all van traders will advertise commercial vehicles price minus the VAT.

you still need to pay vat on anything you buy from a dealer so whether its called a van or a motorhome you would still be paying VAT on it,its just charged differently.

i think they leave the VAT off the screen price as they will sell mostly to buisnesses who claim the VAT back.

nsmith1180

Spot on.

The dealer you bought from will pay the vat on his profit from the sale of the van. You can not claim it back as you are not VAT registered. Therefore the government has its money and will not require additional VAT next time the vehicle is sold. Its finished its interest in the vehicle.

The techinical terms are:

The dealer sold it as a VAT Qualifying vehicle, mening VAT owing.

When you sell it, you will sell it as a Margin vehicle, meaning that no VAT is owning.

If you sell the vehicle you need to state it is VAT paid and not ask for 4995 + VAT for example.

Hope it helps

Lemonade_Pockets

As above you only ever pay the VAT once this applies to cars and vans.

A lot of Vans are sold to VAT registered people new and they therefore reclaim the VAT on it. It then falls to the next owner/purchaser to pay the VAT, if they also claim the vat back it falls to the next one and so on. As you are not VAT registered you have broken this chain i.e paid the VAT and not reclaimed it so therefore no more VAT needs to be paid.

Same principle applies to cars although it is less common to come across it for various different reasons, but if you bought a ex-courtesy car or something like that you would be paying VAT on it.

vaio

Is that correct about vat only having to be paid once on a vehicle?

Surly if the OP sells the van back to a dealer the dealer will have to charge VAT when they sell it on?

Lemonade_Pockets

vaio wrote: »

Is that correct about vat only having to be paid once on a vehicle?

Surly if the OP sells the van back to a dealer the dealer will have to charge VAT when they sell it on?

No they will invoice it as non VATable sale. Not to be confused with the VAT the dealer pays on the profit...but this isn't charged to the customer.

brittle

Thank you so much to everyone who took the trouble to reply....made things much clearer for me! Appreciated! brittle