VAT on wedding reception

Lizheath50

My daughter had just paid a deposit for her wedding reception which is hopefully taking place in December. Will she qualify for the 15% reduction in vat charges announced today for all or some of the final bill? I have paid for a room at the venue. Will the VAT reduction apply because I have not yet had the service, or not because I paid promptly?

NitroBN

Edit: Content deleted due to MSE editorial teams current policy methods of addressing cyber bullying in their forums is to silence the victims.

bradders1983

The thing is here, you have probably already agreed to pay X, you wouldnt have agreed to pay Y plus VAT as you arent a VAT registered business.

So X still applies. A lot of places will not be passing this reduction onto the customer.

JCS1

Until we get more guidance from HMRC on what applies, we're don't know.

Jeremy535897

It's most likely these rules will apply:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-instalments-deposits-credit-sales

bradders1983

By the same logic, if restaurants arent changing their menus next week people could demand to have 12.5% knocked off their bills, doubt they would get very far.

bradders1983

By the same logic, if restaurants arent changing their menus next week people could demand to have 12.5% knocked off their food bill, doubt they would get very far.

Jeremy535897

Using VAT as the subsidy mechanism leaves it up to the business. If they need to put up prices (as would be expected given their unchanged fixed costs but reduced business capacity due to social distancing), they don't need to by so much. If they prefer to reduce prices to boost capacity, then they are subsidised for that. Customers (who by definition should not be in a problematic financial situation, or they wouldn't be going out at all) don't need the subsidy.

bradders1983

An article on the BBC News website states this...

"In practice, venues may decide to keep prices the same, but keep the extra money they would have sent to the tax authority. Providers will not refund those who have booked and paid for accommodation later in the summer, because the rate is for when the sale was made."

The last line is just as relevant in this case also. The OP has paid and therefore the sale is complete.

Jeremy535897

bradders1983 said:

An article on the BBC News website states this...

"In practice, venues may decide to keep prices the same, but keep the extra money they would have sent to the tax authority. Providers will not refund those who have booked and paid for accommodation later in the summer, because the rate is for when the sale was made."

The last line is just as relevant in this case also. The OP has paid and therefore the sale is complete.

Yes, as in the link I posted.

RS1990

Hello All, When 5% VAT was brought in I questioned my wedding venue if it would make a difference to our total balance. We were sadly told no as its a single wedding package. We accepted this and continued to book our wedding however when we received the first deposit invoice, VAT was charged at 5%. I questioned this and received thew following reply "We can confirm the prevailing rate is 20% up to and including Tuesday 14th July, however from Wednesday 15th July until Monday 11th January 2021 (inclusive) it is 5%, but this is on Food & Accommodation only." 

I'm due to pay another deposit in November (which will probably be at 5%) and the final balance next year.

Can VAT only be charged at the time of transaction? Can they charge us the for the unpaid VAT when paying the final balance?