Should we be VAT registered?

Horace

hwalkerh wrote: »

I think there will be other smaller things that we would be able to claim VAT on like stationary but this will be minimal in comparison to the start up costs. Its is the start up costs making me consider it.



Horace - you just seem to ask the question that i was asking. I was hoping for advice, pros and cons of what people think.

Read my post again - yes I have asked you the question about whether or not you actually need to register for VAT and then I pointed you in the direction of the HMRC website. It is a question that you need to ask yourself..also you have mentioned the turnover of the companies you deal with being £70K what I was talking about was your turnover not theirs. Seek advice from your accountant, business link and the HMRC.

POPPYOSCAR

Horace wrote: »

Read my post again - yes I have asked you the question about whether or not you actually need to register for VAT and then I pointed you in the direction of the HMRC website. It is a question that you need to ask yourself..also you have mentioned the turnover of the companies you deal with being £70K what I was talking about was your turnover not theirs. Seek advice from your accountant, business link and the HMRC.

The HMRC website is useful but sometimes peoples actual experience can be helpful especially when you are new to running your own business and I think this what the Op is after.

paulwf

Just to add that as you presumably won't have dozens of invoices being raised a month the VAT return is quite easy. On a spreadsheet just keep a list of all your expenses showing net price and another column for VAT. On another tab do the same for invoices raised showing net and VAT.

Every 3 months you just need to work out the totals and enter them online. This will probably take 15 minutes in total to calculate and submit.

Yes you do have to keep up to date with your monthly reconciliation but you should be doing that anyway, if you don't have up to date sales and expenses figures your business will be suffering. You also have to make sure you don't spend the VAT money you've set aside, but keeping a running total could easily be done in a box on the spreadsheet.

POPPYOSCAR

paulwf wrote: »

Just to add that as you presumably won't have dozens of invoices being raised a month the VAT return is quite easy. On a spreadsheet just keep a list of all your expenses showing net price and another column for VAT. On another tab do the same for invoices raised showing net and VAT.

Every 3 months you just need to work out the totals and enter them online. This will probably take 15 minutes in total to calculate and submit.

Yes you do have to keep up to date with your monthly reconciliation but you should be doing that anyway, if you don't have up to date sales and expenses figures your business will be suffering. You also have to make sure you don't spend the VAT money you've set aside, but keeping a running total could easily be done in a box on the spreadsheet.

I dont actually agree with that statement.Our business goes back from a time when there were no strict rules about returns being in by a certain timescale and I was always behind!! I was far too busy actually doing other things, we have now been in business for 20 years. Sometimes you can spend wasted time analysing figures, in my experience it was get the work in, get the work out, get the money in and sort out the all the other stuff later.

paulwf

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

I dont actually agree with that statement.Our business goes back from a time when there were no strict rules about returns being in by a certain timescale and I was always behind!! I was far too busy actually doing other things, we have now been in business for 20 years. Sometimes you can spend wasted time analysing figures, in my experience it was get the work in, get the work out, get the money in and sort out the all the other stuff later.

If you're that busy make your life easier and hire a book keeper for a couple of hours a week I'm not suggesting in depth analysis, but a simple excel template will allow you to tell if you are up on last year and a graph can show you what your month by month takings are so you can see if the busy period is a blip or long term trend.

It's easy to be rushed off your feet but not taking much money, I'm sure we've all had a busy month only to look at the books and be disappointed. A quick look at your figures will tell you if you are doing things right and if you are perhaps you can take on more staff.

Ok there are a few businesses that are so busy that they don't need more sales but the other 99% of us do