becoming vat registered

indecisive sort

Well-Known Member
might need to consider becoming vat registered as im interested in buying another commercial property , i already own one this past five years but there was no requirement there to vat register

i know its relatively straight forward but to anyone who has done it , was the extra paperwork involved a real pain or was it just a case of getting on with it ?

my accountant would have you believe its an awful extra burden , maybe hes just lazy ? , you would think hed enjoy the extra fees
 
might need to consider becoming vat registered as im interested in buying another commercial property , i already own one this past five years but there was no requirement there to vat register

i know its relatively straight forward but to anyone who has done it , was the extra paperwork involved a real pain or was it just a case of getting on with it ?

my accountant would have you believe its an awful extra burden , maybe hes just lazy ? , you would think hed enjoy the extra fees
VAT is easy, even i can input the invoices onto the puter to help the mrs
 
might need to consider becoming vat registered as im interested in buying another commercial property , i already own one this past five years but there was no requirement there to vat register

i know its relatively straight forward but to anyone who has done it , was the extra paperwork involved a real pain or was it just a case of getting on with it ?

my accountant would have you believe its an awful extra burden , maybe hes just lazy ? , you would think hed enjoy the extra fees
I registered last year, find it easier to keep things on track as you are going through everything every two months. My accountant was also of zero help and gave me terrible advice which has lost me a nice chunk of money, I was planning on changing accountants this year, the C19 has slightly delayed my plans.
 
We registered here only about 12 years ago, probably should have registered sooner but as said above our accountant was telling us that’s there’s too much work and it wasn’t worth it, but I told him I wud do the vat returns he changed his mind and said we really should be registered.
no real hassle, do it all through ros it’s self assessment, if u have any big purchases ur return will be held up til they see the invoice , we got a vat audit once in 12 years. We did buy a new tractor this year and the vat amount was in our account within days of filling the return. So i must be doing something right.
we do returns every 2 months but u can do it every 4 6 or 12 I think, but if I left it any longer than 2 months the invoices wud build up.
 
We registered here only about 12 years ago, probably should have registered sooner but as said above our accountant was telling us that’s there’s too much work and it wasn’t worth it, but I told him I wud do the vat returns he changed his mind and said we really should be registered.
no real hassle, do it all through ros it’s self assessment, if u have any big purchases ur return will be held up til they see the invoice , we got a vat audit once in 12 years. We did buy a new tractor this year and the vat amount was in our account within days of filling the return. So i must be doing something right.
we do returns every 2 months but u can do it every 4 6 or 12 I think, but if I left it any longer than 2 months the invoices wud build up.
Are you sure you can do it every 12 months, I thought it was every 4, if it was 12 I would think about registering myself
 
Are you sure you can do it every 12 months, I thought it was every 4, if it was 12 I would think about registering myself
I’m not sure, but I remember getting a revenue letter a few years ago something tells me 12 months was mentioned. But I definitely could be wrong. But if u do ur sums and believe you’ll be better off by 1k or more I wud say u should consider it’s probably about 12/14 hours work max a year doing returns, definitely pays for the work.
 
Are you sure you can do it every 12 months, I thought it was every 4, if it was 12 I would think about registering myself
2 monthly or 4 monthly afaik, I'm on 4 monthly, still do each month as it ends to keep on top of it , 12 monthly is RTD ( return of trading details) gets submitted before the end of January for the previous years figures.
 
We became registered a few years ago.

Obviously it depends on the nature of your business, is vat on sales less than the vat you are paying?

I do ours every 2 months. I just send the summary to the accountant and they claim for us. Refund from Revenue is usually very prompt.
If you have harvest credit with your merchant, you can have the vat refund in your account months before you pay the invoice - handy for cash flow.
Likewise if you buy a machine on finance, vat is claimed years before you pay for the machine in full.

I really like the fact that doing the claim every 2 months keeps your accounts very tidy. It makes you reconcile your bank account, cheque book and invoices every two months. Very good house keeping.
 
Are you sure you can do it every 12 months, I thought it was every 4, if it was 12 I would think about registering myself
honest we do ours quarterly but the option is there to do it monthly
any longer and its an ball ache
 
I registered about 1 year after starting farming. Should have registered from the start especially as a tillage farm. It cost me a few quid holding off.
like the lads suggest, go for bimonthly it forces you to keep accounts up to date.
I give the wife a figure, she puts it up on ROS money lands in account within days.
from what I hear, it’s not as financially viable if your in dairying.
You probably know this but even if not registered you can reclaim the Vat on capital expenditure.
 
It makes most sense if you are going to be investing in machinery otherwise you will be getting a flat rate refund every tax year for vat on inputs. once you register the flat rate refund disappears, de registering is another matter, not sure but I think it has to be 6 years since your last claim for something that is depreciated over 6 yrs or more.
 
Been registered for Vat for 30 years. Lowest refund was for 14 pounds and never had to pay and only one audit. As Cork says , you can claim the refund before paying the invoice and they are always very prompt to pay. If I’m making a big purchase , my accountant informs them before I make the return and so far they have not been looking for invoices. The only downside is that it reduces the selection of secondhand machines available as you have to look for something with a Vat invoice. As said before,I would recommend making the returns every 2 months as it keeps accounts up to date and makes the year end a lot easier.
 
im only a small farmer ( 45 acres ) and most of income is not from farming , im seeing a tax consultant on monday , he seemed to imply that it is possible to be vat registered for one area and exclude another so as i wont be buying a new combine anytime soon etc , i could exclude the farm ?
 
Unless your changing machinery a good bit and burning a lot of fuel it doesn't pay an ordinary farmer to be vat registered unless your farming at a loss. Generally you hope to sell cattle for more then you bought them for so you owe vat and if you sell grain then you owe vat on that as well if your registered. Thats my take on it anyway.
 
Unless your changing machinery a good bit and burning a lot of fuel it doesn't pay an ordinary farmer to be vat registered unless your farming at a loss. Generally you hope to sell cattle for more then you bought them for so you owe vat and if you sell grain then you owe vat on that as well if your registered. Thats my take on it anyway.
Over here farmers are generally reclaimers of vat
 
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Unless your changing machinery a good bit and burning a lot of fuel it doesn't pay an ordinary farmer to be vat registered unless your farming at a loss. Generally you hope to sell cattle for more then you bought them for so you owe vat and if you sell grain then you owe vat on that as well if your registered. Thats my take on it anyway.
If a VAT reg farmer sells grain then he just doesn’t get paid vat on the sale, I assume it’s the same with livestock. He doesn’t owe VAT.

You could say that the tillage man is treated a bit unfairly as while he claims vat on a lot of his purchases, he gets no vat on his sales.

On the other hand, a large dairy farmer pays very little vat in the running of his business whereas he gets vat on most of his sales.
 
If a VAT reg farmer sells grain then he just doesn’t get paid vat on the sale, I assume it’s the same with livestock. He doesn’t owe VAT.

You could say that the tillage man is treated a bit unfairly as while he claims vat on a lot of his purchases, he gets no vat on his sales.

On the other hand, a large dairy farmer pays very little vat in the running of his business whereas he gets vat on most of his sales.
The vat registered livestock farmer gets paid vat included on the factory docket, he has to return the vat element to revenue .
 
If a VAT reg farmer sells grain then he just doesn’t get paid vat on the sale, I assume it’s the same with livestock. He doesn’t owe VAT.

You could say that the tillage man is treated a bit unfairly as while he claims vat on a lot of his purchases, he gets no vat on his sales.

On the other hand, a large dairy farmer pays very little vat in the running of his business whereas he gets vat on most of his sales.
Not getting paid the vat on grain if your registered is what I meant. You've still paid it sort of or that's how I view it myself. When you buy cattle in the mart there's vat which a registered farmer can claim back but then when you kill those cattle you have to pay the difference between what you claimed on the purchase of those animals and the vat paid on the day of slaughter. That's how I view it but I'm open to correction if I'm mistaken
 
Imv it's a no brainer for a tillage farmer to be vat registered. The vat on chemicals alone will almost come close to the vat rebate on the grain before any other purchases like fuel repairs etc. New machinery purchase must be all but impossible without being reg.
 
@Mf 7715 the post I'm looking for isn't in them threads, I think it was a post by @Seedsower but I could be wrong.

If you make a loss on the farm, I know you can claim Tax back/against a PAYE job, can you do the same with capital allowances or do you have to carry them forward and only claim against them on a farm profit.
 
@Mf 7715 the post I'm looking for isn't in them threads, I think it was a post by @Seedsower but I could be wrong.

If you make a loss on the farm, I know you can claim Tax back/against a PAYE job, can you do the same with capital allowances or do you have to carry them forward and only claim against them on a farm profit.
I'd imagine you can only claim them against the business at a future date.
It's a question for an accountant really.
I know our limited company had more expenses than profits initially and it wasn't suggested to offset against the farm tax liability
 
Capital allowances can also be used to reduce overall liability , but after 4 years of continuous losses you can no longer use the loss against other income. What’s not clear is if the loss is based on farm only or including capital allowance.
 
Capital allowances can also be used to reduce overall liability , but after 4 years of continuous losses you can no longer use the loss against other income. What’s not clear is if the loss is based on farm only or including capital allowance.
Farm only, I've gotten tax back from my PAYE since I started many years ago due to capital allowances, I'll have to get better at this farming.
 
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