Hotel VAT 5%, do I get refunded if I paid in advance at 20%.

Bradust

I paid upfront for a long business hotel stay in June for a stay in July and was charged vat at 20%. Some of the stay falls into the 5% vat change.
Do I get the extra 15% refunded for those days or does the hotel keep the extra? 
The hotel have made no mention of it to me, and have even changed the dates on my invoice i requested to have more days in the 5% dates! Smells like vat fraud to me.

Lomast

No vat is applied at the time of purchase so it will all be at 20% and even if it wasn't they are under no obligation to pass the savings on to you anyway many businesses will use the extra to prop themselves up after many months of no income

JJ_Egan

As above its not vat fraud , plenty of comments in the press / news .

bris

The VAT charged at point of invoice is the VAT due to the VAT man so they got the 20%. It's not when you stay that counts it's when the invoice is raised.

Bradust

But they have supplied an invoice stating a 5% vat charge at the end of my stay, when at the start I was charged 20%.

Bradust

Lomast said:

No vat is applied at the time of purchase so it will all be at 20% and even if it wasn't they are under no obligation to pass the savings on to you anyway many businesses will use the extra to prop themselves up after many months of no income

I'm also running a business. They arn't "savings",vat is a tax charge that is repayable to hmrc that I have to pay at my own cost. Surely charging me 20% tax and telling hmrc they only charged 5% is fraud!

theonlywayisup

Bradust said:

But they have supplied an invoice stating a 5% vat charge at the end of my stay, when at the start I was charged 20%.

Then I assume the final amount was the same?

Your room was no doubt booked at x not at y plus z vat

sharpe106

They only need to pay 5 % to the government so basically they can keep the difference, if they wish or reduce the price. Most are not passing it on.

mattyprice4004

If you think it’s VAT fraud, I hope you pay someone competent to do your books and don’t try and do them yourself... 

prowla

If the invoice shows 5%, then how can the customer be charged 20%?

Is there a cancellation fee?

bris

Most hotels charge x amount per room not x amount plus VAT as a total price so the customer knows what the full cost is, the VAT element is not your concern just the total cost.

However they still have to pay the 20% to the vat man if the invoice was raised before the new date. If they are only paying the 5% then they would have needed to raise a credit for the original invoice and re issue a new one. This wouldn't mean anything to you because the room would still be x amount but they are playing with fire with the VAT man