VAT on Sales?

[Stevo]

I'm new to selling so please bear with me, my question is do you charge the customer VAT in your prices for mugs.

Does being VAT registered have anything to do with it, because I'm not?

Thanks :redface:

[Designandgift]

hey stevo
i think if you are not vat registered then you can not charge vat
if you are vat registered then you can charge i think it is 20% either as an extra at end of shopping cart with delivery prices etc
or you can add the vat into the prices of your items for sale
but you must make this clear that vat is included in price...

i am not vat registered myself so i am only going off what i have heard and being told
i could be wrong so some of the other members here may be able to make things clearer for you and me

[tlworkwear]

If you are not VAT registered then you do not charge VAT on sales. On the flip side you also cannot claim back VAT from purchases you make for the business. This is to the best of my knowledge anyway so someone please correct me if I am wrong.

[John G]

You CANNOT charge vat if you are not registered. If your sales are going to be 77K per year, or over, you HAVE to register for vat and only then would you start to charge all sales (except articles such as flyers or certain charities) the going rate, which at the moment is 20%.

Cheers John

[Stevo]

Thanks everyone, I was looking at a site design.co.uk and by the time he had put in P & P, VAT, his mugs were £19.50p each hoowchhhh

[mrs maggot]

i presume as he is selling top end designer products ?? the vat is already on, but is shown separately for clarity, and for those that can claim it back - go to John lewis or any up market retailer and they have plenty of mugs in the £12-£20 bracket

[logobear]

For anyone who is vat registered, with a turnover under 225k then take a look at the 'simplified vat' scheme, we save about 5k per year and book keeping is simpler too!

[Stevo]

Thanks Mrs Maggot and Logobear, to be honest I ant got no equipment yet. I'm waiting till mid January to buy a printer ect, so in the mean I'm "trying" to learn as much as I can

[Designandgift]

that makes great sense stevo
i wish i made the same decision i am now playing catch up while dealing with customers orders..
results...... lack of sleep!!!

[mrs maggot]

stevo, if you are just starting up and going to be doing it as a full time venture, you could do worse than sign yourself up for some free business advice, HMRC run some sessions - otherwise you are in danger of putting all sorts of obstacles in your way that are not actually there in the first place, i dont know what made you look at that sight and think "oh gosh how complicated/expensive" that is, compared to 1001 othersites, but you just need to get started with basics and take it one step at a time from there