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Only one possible resolution for me this year and that is to ‘De-register for VAT!’ I have been under the VAT Threshold now for the last 2 years or so and in order to compete, need to cut costs. The VATman says that if I fill in and return the form before Jan 30th as of Feb 1st can be more competitive. :tup:
From then my charges will be 17.5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} cheaper at a stroke. My £47 labour charge a mere £40, I figure getting more work and less people saying “How much do you charge?…. Oh! can I phone you back later?”
Over the years I have given the VATman over 60 grand and not once has he said THANKYOU!😀 HAPPY NEW YEAR! 😀
Martin
P.S That £179 Zanussi????….I can fix it real cheap for you lady…NO VAT too!
Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
Martin wrote:Over the years I have given the VATman over 60 grand and not once has he said THANKYOU!
He has double that out of me EVERY YEAR. Now you mention it, I don’t even get a Christmas card.
Well done Martin in stopping that revenue stream. It is a tax on distress purchases I’m sorry to say.
Do you remember Denis Healey’s 2 tier system of 1975? 8{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} if it was a cooking or heating product, 25{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} if refrigeration or laundry. I can still recall some landed gentry over Exmoor bemoaning the fact that a repair on his Hoover 4804 D/Washer carried the high rate and should have been classed as a necessity not as a luxury. Even the Hoover price list used to show different prices as the criteria was split between certain spare parts.
Happy days.
Alex
Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
Alex wrote: Happy days.
I would welcome back the old “2 tier system” or even 3 or more for that matter. I do so very much object to VAT on labour charges as my main gripe. To think I sweat my proverbials off, fight for every penny I earn and the VATman gets 17.5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of all my labour!!!! :haier:
No s*d it, he’s getting no more from me 😀
Martin
Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
Got my VAT De-registration Form (VAT7) in today’s post. Filled it out in seconds and posted it right back……………Big sigh of relief 😀 …..From the first of Feb NO VAT 8)
Already edited my Yellow Pages proof……”SAME DAY SERVICE + NO VAT TO PAY!!“……………..Must do the same on my web pages now! 😀
E-jobs…Bring it on!!!!
Martin
Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
Martin, you do of course realise that you will be paying 17.5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} more on everything youy buy and I know of several WP who will not touch a non vat registered person as do a large number of consumers and other bussiness’s who dont take a non vat reg’d bussiness seriously + you will now be even more under the scrutiny of the vat man and….. I thought we were all about pushing up our charges to a realistic rate rather than cutting them?
I know you have been in business for many years and know all this but I would be in favor of all busines having to being vat registered to even up the field a bit rather than the way it is now.I personaly read adverts in yellow pages that state ‘NO VAT TO PAY’ and wonder why that is.
Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
Well done Martin…..I wish I could return to being under the threshold too. No chance though.
Whats worse is that the 20 grand a year the Vat man gets from me goes into Europe’s coffers and not ours.
Fraid I remember the 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} luxury tax, long before the devil spawned the VATMAN.
Kevin
Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
Mark,
Very interesting comments you have made and furthermore I guarantee your thoughts are exchoed by many who have read this thread. If I may just answer what I believe are the salient points here:-
eastlmark wrote:you do of course realise that you will be paying 17.5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} more on everything youy buy
Sure, in fact it will cost me just under £200 a month more on those outgoings I would normally reclaim. I will easily recoup that loss through extra business otherwise lost on a daily basis because I charge VAT!
eastlmark wrote:who dont take a non vat reg’d bussiness seriously + you will now be even more under the scrutiny of the vat man
Who needs wp’s?…not me, I’ve got all the accounts set up and business associates that I need thanks 🙂 Consumers certainly don’t want to pay VAT and as for the VATman’s scrutiny, my business is an open book should any official from Customs & Excise wish to pop round for a cup of tea and a chat!
eastlmark wrote: and….. I thought we were all about pushing up our charges to a realistic rate rather than cutting them?
Now this is a sad fact you will eventually have to accept. In an ideal world YES I would love our rates to be acceptably higher than they are at present. But I am a businessman with my ear firmly on the ground, I read far more of UKW’s pages than I write also. The signs do not indicate an upsurge in our trade, quite the contrary and I merely wish to compete within its decline and not price myself out of business 🙁
eastlmark wrote:I personaly read adverts in yellow pages that state ‘NO VAT TO PAY’ and wonder why that is.
You may wonder all you like? You may even think “cowboy!”? But I am pretty sure potential new customers on seeing my new advert heading will jump at the chance of a 17.5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} saving and a greater likelyhood their machine is not “Beyond Economical Repair” (BER) :tup:
Martin
Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
Do you not have a van Martin? fair bit of vat when you purchase one and that expensive yellow pages ad is now more expensive too and anyway, is it the cheap end of the market you want anyway? (dont I remember a post recently where you were proclaiming a new £10,000 contract allowing you to drop the cheaper work?)
Sorry, but those adverts proudly proclaiming “no vat charged” might as well write “Business Going Nowhere“Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
eastlmark wrote:(dont I remember a post recently where you were proclaiming a new £10,000 contract allowing you to drop the cheaper work?)
Oh dear 🙁
Well I was hoping to keep the facts of that situation quiet, but as you brought it up and for the benefit others that missed that revelation, read on: –
http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … highlight=I got 3 jobs from that Letting Agent (who gave me all the bulls**t promises) in November, I did 4 for them during the whole of December, I have had no word from them since and I hope I can get the money they still owe me (Just £245) before I de-register 👿
martin wrote:Who needs wp’s?…not me
May I never be tempted to ever sign a contract again 🙁
eastlmark wrote:“Business Going Nowhere”
I’m a Sole trader Mark, always have been for over 32 years now, I am just one of at least 800 in this business around the UK doing exactly that…going nowhere!!
Martin
Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
Sorry to hear about that work not quite being as good as expected and you are a very honest person Martin to say that.
I too am a sole trader and have been progressivly downsizing over the past few years, not by choice I might say and certainly not by lack of work but by the lack of being unable to get enough people to work for me. Having said that, although I am still well over the vat threshold, although having dropped appliance sales my turnover has taken a knock, if/when the day comes I shall stay vat registered and if I was ever advised to de register, I dont think I will shout about it.Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
eastlmark wrote:you are a very honest person Martin to say that
Its good you spotted that, in fact I would go further if you like in “beating my own drum”……….I’m an honest up front guy, with a conscience therefore NOT the ideal business acumen. 🙁
I am up-front, nothing to hide, tell it like it is in the hope of just earning a simple living from my self acquired ‘I can fix it’ ability.
I don’t need to be an unpaid “self-appointed” ‘stealth tax’ collector as well :lesson:
Martin
Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
For what it’s worth Martin, I’ve never been VAT registered and the bulk of my work is property based. I’m sorry that your contract hasn’t worked out – I must say that we work it in a different way. Once a year we write a letter to our “Major” property clients with this years rates and re-assure them that everyday we hold 4 slots a day for property work only. If we happen to be a bit busy Julia tells them that today’s slots are already gone and we’ll get them in tomorrow.
If we take an example of, say, Morgans; they average out at 30 – 35 calls a month. That’s £11/1200 a month in labour before parts. They manage 4,500 properties, turning £800-1200 per month, so say £450,000 per month (we ARE in the wrong business). They don’t want unhappy tennants on the phone, they want a quiet life – what I do for them really is small beer and the fact that I’m not VAT registered is really irrelevant in the great scheme of things. The real beauty of it is that Morgans pay ME, then charge it back to the landlord.
Drops in their ocean I suppose is what I’m trying to say…….
Cheers,
Chris.Re: 2005 New Year Resolution
It turned out to be a simple ‘stroke of the pen exercise’ for me to ‘de-register’. Paperwork all sorted, so from Tuesday (Feb 1st ) I am free from the burdens of Value Added Tax after 29years 8 months of being an unpaid VAT tax collector !!!!
Free at last! Free at last! thank God almighty, free at last! (where have I heard that before? Martin who? :rotfl: )
Martin
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