What food to buy ahead of the VAT increase

nikki1520

There is no VAT on ladies sanitary products, fresh fruit, veg and meat - basically anyhing you use for cooking. Dairy is also fine.

Where you'll find it is on "luxury items" so crisps, chocolate and chocolate biscuits (but not cake - hence the big court case about whether Jaffa Cakes are a cake or a biscuit)


On mouthwash, Cute Mouse - I'd say if you were using it twice a day, one bottle should last a person between 4-6 weeks.

themull1

I haven't got the space to store loads of extra things. I might get some extra toilet rolls though. My kids go through loads!!

Mrs_Money

I've just been checking back on some old till receipts - Waitrose marks vatable items with a V at the beginning of the line and Tesco marks them with an asterisk after the item name - so far I've found these items that are vatable (sorry, I know some may be obvious):

fruit juice, ginger beer (alcoholic),wine, cider, elderflower cordial, cola, 7-up, sparkling water, chocolates, sweets, cereal bars:eek:, ice cream, crisps,dishwasher tabs, fabric conditioner, toilet block, foil, cling film, toilet wipes and toilet rolls, kitchen roll, sandwich bags,toothpaste, rubber gloves, handwash, shower gel, deodourant, vitamin supplements, shampoo, disenfectant, de-icing salt, charcoal, batteries, bin liners, tumble drier sheets, sponges, stationery, candles.

These are the things from my weekly shops - so, although much of it is not a surprise, I'm going to be cutting down on the vatable stuff where I can, to offset the vat rise.

ag120

geordie_joe wrote: »

It's not just non essentials that will go up, everything will go up because the VAT on fuel will go up too. You need fuel to transport raw materials to factories, finished goods to wholesalers/warehouses, then to supermarkets/shops. All the companies involved in the chain will put up their prices too.

Also, a couple of weeks ago there was a survey on the morning news that said over 60% of major companies had openly admitted to planning to "hide" their own price increases in with the rise in VAT.

It won't just be vat rated items that go up, everything will, and not just by the vat rise!

VAT registered businesses will be able to reclaim the VAT on fuel and other expenses, so in theory, the VAT increase shouldn't directly cause the price of non VAT rated items to increase. However, I suspect that we'll see an increase in the price of many of these products as the producers and retailers introduce price rises by stealth.

taxiphil

areia wrote: »

its not just that its also how items are packed,

so many things i have noticed are smaller or are less in the packet

The latest one I've spotted is Go Cat dry cat food - now with a flash across the top of the box that says "10% LESS CARDBOARD", but interestingly they don't draw any attention to the 5% less cat food inside the box (was 1kg now 950g).

And on the subject of pet food, don't forget it's all VATable too (don't think it's been mentioned so far on this thread) so another thing to stock up on.

skintbint_2

cutemouse - Mr T's have the whitening sensitive toothpaste on at 25p at the moment (pink chequered pack) it was about 75p then 17p (stocked up with 10 at that price) and now its up to 25p

thor

The VAT increase will be used as an excuse for large price increases while they quietly ratchet up their margins. The supermarkets are past masters at using smokescreens and their customers are letting them get away with it.

stilernin

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

Is it just me who doesnt see a 25p per £10 of non essentials worth bothering about?
I mean whats that? buying one less apple a week?

Im sure most of us couldnt even get an increase of 50p a week even if we tried.

Sorry to be a pedant but the increase will be less than 25p per £10 because the current price of £10 already has 17.5% VAT included. (£8.51 + £1.49 VAT )

When this £10 product goes up to 20% VAT (an extra 2.5% of £8.51) it will be £10.21. An increase of 21p (16% less than has been discussed).

On big price tickets that people are rushing out to buy it will be an increase of £21.00 per £1000.

Those on very tight budgets (including me) will have to make some judgements on what they can buy but everyone will benefit from footballers wives and the like spending £1000s on handbags, designer clothes, cars, fully catered birthday bashes etc.

Edited ... to say that I am not averse to stocking up with things that will save me money. Think Branston beans.... better than the interest in the bank. I just got a bit carried away with the maths.

*Chattie*

skintbint wrote: »

cutemouse - Mr T's have the whitening sensitive toothpaste on at 25p at the moment (pink chequered pack) it was about 75p then 17p (stocked up with 10 at that price) and now its up to 25p

i followed your idea of a january box from october which i thought was a great idea although not everyone did but mine is stocked with toilet rolls on offer the toothpaste when 17p extra tins of soups beans tuna we like a lot of tuna and so do the cats. so i wont be doing an extra shop for these products now before the vat increase.

*Chattie*

forgot to link to your thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2769144