Claiming VAT back on parking tickets?

catmulogen

Hi, My husband has stayed in a Travelodge this week for business and was charged £5 each night for parking. I reminded him to get a receipt for this but, he says the only thing he could get was the parking ticket which sticks on the car windscreen. I'm unsure if the parking is part of Travelodge (who are obviously Vat registered) or another company, but no VAT registration number is given on the ticket. Does anyone know if there is a way to claim back the VAT on this payment please as at £5 per night for a number of weeks, the cost will soon mount up?

Also, If you get a parking ticket with a council or borough name on it, can you claim the Vat back on that?

Thanks for any help and hope i've posted in the correct area

Rolo_Tomasi

Parking isn't always a vatable item. You have to see if the receipt is a correct VAT receipt - ie it should state the suppliers name and address and their VAT number. If it does not then you will not be able to reclaim any VAT.

JasonLVC

Same rules apply for car park tickets whether they are council or private.

The ticket should show the VAT number at least somewhere. If no VAT number showing then the correct action is not to reclaim any VAT on the car park ticket.

The alternative view is to reclaim the VAT on the belief that the car park supplier is VAT registered and then take your chancves during a VAT inspection. Most HMRC inspectors take a pragmatic view of receipts such as these, they are low value and it is very unusual to find a car park that isn't a standard rated supply. You'd be very unlucky to get a VAT inspector who took the hump with you on this aspect.

Worse case scenario is the HMRC Officer will want the VAT back plus a bit of intrerest, and that is assuming you get a visit and so I think that is what I would recommend and not worry too much about it.

Pennywise

JasonLVC wrote: »

Worse case scenario is the HMRC Officer will want the VAT back plus a bit of intrerest, and that is assuming you get a visit and so I think that is what I would recommend and not worry too much about it.

Not under the new penalty regime, that isn't the worst case scenario. The VAT inspector will now levy a further penalty of maybe 30% or so for an innocent mistake under the new rules which came into force this April. But agree with Jason that you shouldn't worry too much about it - the vat inspector is unlikely to bother with the paperwork/assessment for tiny amounts but he could well include it if he finds anything else wrong.

catmulogen

Thanks everyone for taking your time to reply and the advice given. My husband might be staying in the Travelodge for about 12 weeks in total so i'm going to contact Travelodge to enquire again about any further receipt.

JasonLVC

Pennywise wrote: »

Not under the new penalty regime, that isn't the worst case scenario. The VAT inspector will now levy a further penalty of maybe 30% or so for an innocent mistake under the new rules which came into force this April. But agree with Jason that you shouldn't worry too much about it - the vat inspector is unlikely to bother with the paperwork/assessment for tiny amounts but he could well include it if he finds anything else wrong.

The new regime was in the back of mind mind when posting but the values are going to be small and the Officer will have to prove unreasonable care had been taken which is really going to be difficult for them to demonstrate and it'll not be worth it for them. The 30% is the starting point for unreasonable care which can be mitigated to Nil for assisting the officer, disclosing the error, severity of error and the general compliance of the business overall.

Now, try sticking a few Plasma TV's without a receipt in and that'll be a different matter!;)

OP - You could also find out who owns the carpark and ask them to send you a VAT number/confirm their business address so that you can still make the claim.......and poor old hubby....12 weeks in a Travelodge.....what did he do to deserve that treatment;)

davetrousers

Travelodge don't usually operate their own parking. Some are Britannia. It tells you on the website who operates the parking at each Travelodge.

DCodd

JasonLVC wrote: »

Same rules apply for car park tickets whether they are council or private.

The ticket should show the VAT number at least somewhere. If no VAT number showing then the correct action is not to reclaim any VAT on the car park ticket.

The alternative view is to reclaim the VAT on the belief that the car park supplier is VAT registered and then take your chancves during a VAT inspection. Most HMRC inspectors take a pragmatic view of receipts such as these, they are low value and it is very unusual to find a car park that isn't a standard rated supply. You'd be very unlucky to get a VAT inspector who took the hump with you on this aspect.

Worse case scenario is the HMRC Officer will want the VAT back plus a bit of intrerest, and that is assuming you get a visit and so I think that is what I would recommend and not worry too much about it.

We had a VAT inspection recently and were told that we could assume VAT on all parking, as long as we had the ticket and whether it had VAT shown or not.

Has this changed over the past Year????

JasonLVC

DCodd wrote: »

We had a VAT inspection recently and were told that we could assume VAT on all parking, as long as we had the ticket and whether it had VAT shown or not.

Has this changed over the past Year????

Nothing has changed.

The law states you MUST hold a valid VAT receipt which means VAT no, name/address of supplier, etc. However, HMRC take a relaxed (for once) stance on this as they realise that there has to be a bit of common sense.

In terms of professional advice in writing, I have to advise the OP to get a proper VAT receipt/invoice for the parking. In terms of advice off the record, just reclaim the VAT and think nothing more of it, but if you do get a VAT visit and you do get the 1 in 1000 jobsworth then be prepared to pay it back. Never seen it happen in 13 years though!.

DCodd

JasonLVC wrote: »

Nothing has changed.

The law states you MUST hold a valid VAT receipt which means VAT no, name/address of supplier, etc. However, HMRC take a relaxed (for once) stance on this as they realise that there has to be a bit of common sense.

In terms of professional advice in writing, I have to advise the OP to get a proper VAT receipt/invoice for the parking. In terms of advice off the record, just reclaim the VAT and think nothing more of it, but if you do get a VAT visit and you do get the 1 in 1000 jobsworth then be prepared to pay it back. Never seen it happen in 13 years though!.

Thank you, had a panic moment there!

I did check HMRC website yesterday, after reading this thread and the information has actualy changed. It now states that there is no VAT for "on street" parking and advises to check the VAT status of privately owned car parks.

I will be amending the instructions to staff for parking expenses claims from send in the ticket, to get a VAT receipt.