VAT on UK to UK sales?

DullGreyGuy

savergrant said:

DullGreyGuy said:

savergrant said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Who are the sellers? Businesses or private individuals?

A VAT registered company would need to charge VAT but there is a marginal scheme for secondhand goods, art etc where 16.67% VAT is charged on the difference between what they bought it for and what they are selling it for which could also explain the low values

When I worked somewhere which used the 'margin scheme' it was a condition that the amount of VAT was not disclosed to the purchaser, and simply a statement that the margin scheme had been applied.

I can understand why they may want to hide their markup which the VAT effectively reveals @savergrant but legally if the purchaser was a VAT registered entity you would have to provide them a VAT receipt on demand. 

From HMRC page. I draw your attention to the penultimate bullet point;

Selling

When you sell something you plan to claim for under a VAT margin scheme, you must give the buyer an invoice that includes:

• date
• your name, address and VAT registration number
• the buyer’s name and address, or that of their business
• the item’s unique stock book number
• invoice number
• item description
• total price - you must not show VAT separately
• any of the following: ‘margin scheme - second hand goods’, ‘margin scheme - works of art’ or ‘margin scheme - collectors’ items and antiques’

Our instructions from what was then Inland Revenue were that we were never to disclose the amount of VAT to a customer or their accountant. Infringing this would lead to us being kicked off the margin scheme.

Fair enough, never bought anything secondhand for my business so dont know how or what the buyer can then reclaim but thats going too off track of this thread. 

savergrant

Looking through my eBay sales (sorry orders!) The only one which shows the buyer paid VAT is the only one I listed with simple delivery. The postage paid is £2.45 (evri) and VAT 49p. Similar items I've sold with 'custom postage' evri is £2.94

mark_morales

MR1988 said:

Anyone notice VAT added to some of your purchases through eBay? I am trying to figure out why some purchases I have VAT added to the orders and for some I don't. First I thought it would be the seller location, but all were located in UK. Then I thought maybe it's value, but checked some high value orderes and some had VAT added and some didn't. Here are a few examples:

Order A: Coventry, United Kingdom

Total: £101.44

VAT: £0.00

Order B: Maidenhead, United Kingdom

Total: £105.00

No mention of VAT.

Order C: Manchester, United Kingdom

Total: £110.73

VAT: £0.99

Order D : Coventry, United Kingdom

Total: £112.39

No mention of VAT.

Order E: Bridlington, United Kingdom

Total: 156.30

VAT: £1.05

Any ideas why am I being charged VAT on some of these?

Of course I have seen that too... it is not just where the seller is located. There are usually differences between sellers because some are registered for VAT and others are not registered, even if they are all in the UK. Depending on how the seller sets up their taxes on eBay, the VAT may be included in the price or shown separately. 

martindow

Those VAT amounts are too small to relate to the values of the orders.  Could they be the VAT paid for the delivery services?

RFW

martindow said:

Those VAT amounts are too small to relate to the values of the orders.  Could they be the VAT paid for the delivery services?

It;s a fairly old thread and that seemed to be the consensus.

Spoonie_Turtle

I've just noticed this on a purchase.  Private seller in the UK - but I've worked out the VAT is the correct amount for it to be on the buyer fee plus delivery. 

Going back to the original listing shows the VAT-inclusive prices which make sense of it.  Just very confusing that they break it down like that.  I suppose it's for transparency, you see exactly what the seller's getting, what eBay's getting for the fee, and how much they are passing on to the government, but maybe that sounds be something optional you click if you want to know, instead of being very confused looking at your order.