Martyn Lewis VAT Law

miser123

You visit anything from a solicitor to a garage.At least half will give an estimate.Carefully leaving out VAT.

Any supporters for a Vat rule/law that VAT should be included in all verbal,written,estimates or quotes.It may exist.Chaos still exists.

We could call it the Martyn Lewis rule/law so it passes
1

Marcon

miser123 said:

You visit anything from a solicitor to a garage.At least half will give an estimate.Carefully leaving out VAT.

Any supporters for a Vat rule/law that VAT should be included in all verbal,written,estimates or quotes.It may exist.Chaos still exists.

We could call it the Martyn Lewis rule/law so it passes
1

...but invariably including the required statement that VAT will be added at the prevailing rate. VAT can and does change, which is why it's not included in such quotes.

NFH

There is existing legislation on this:

• Regulation 6(4)(d) of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 requires any invitation to purchase to include "the price, including any taxes".
• Likewise Articles 1 and 4 of the Price Marking Order 2004 defines "selling price" as "the final price for a unit of a product, or a given quantity of a product, including VAT and all other taxes", and requires that "where a trader indicates that any product is or may be for sale to a consumer, he shall indicate the selling price of that product in accordance with the provisions of this Order".
• From April 2025, Section 230(2) of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will require an invitation to purchase to include:

(2)
(b) the total price of the product (so far as paragraph (c) does not apply);
(c) if, owing to the nature of the product, the whole or any part of the total price cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, how the price (or that part of it) will be calculated.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (2)(b) the total price of a product includes any fees, taxes, charges or other payments that the consumer will necessarily incur if the consumer purchases the product.

NFH

Marcon said:

VAT can and does change, which is why it's not included in such quotes.

That's nonsense. VAT has been at 20% since 4th January 2011. It very rarely changes and does not for example vary from week to week. If the VAT rate does change, then businesses are given plenty of notice to adjust their retail prices if necessary.

The only reason to exclude VAT from retail prices is to create a misleading indication of price. Its effect is to distort competition by making a service look cheaper than reality and thereby disingenuously entice a consumer into a decision to buy a service at a lower price than the consumer will ultimately be asked to pay. Therefore legislation in most of the developed world, with the notable exception of north America, requires retail prices to include taxes. The United Kingdom is no exception.

timjim

But rules do change. VAT is now being charged on private school fees, should anybody quoted a price before the election not have to pay the extra because in wasn't in the quote.
The government could decide tomorrow that Vat on gas and electric or insurance will increase to the standard rate.
Often quotations are well in advance of when the work takes place, therefore the statement of vat at the applicable rate is logical. 
I agree that prices "over the counter" should include the vat.