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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>United Kingdom Taxes |
Does anyone know of a good book which explains VAT better than the HMRC site? |
I'm trying to learn more and more about VAT for my bookkeeping business and I'm struggling to decipher the info on HMRC's website. When I call then they just say 'it's very complicated we'll send some details out to you' and print out what I already didn't understand on the website. I need a book, similar to the Lawpack guides or Dummies Guides or something which tells me about VAT and general rules. For example, knowing what element of VAT to claim back in the 40p/mile mileage rates etc? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated :-) The Issue with VAT is that it is not Simple. There are no defined set of rules and it is much of a minefield. Mileage rates: Forget the 40p rate. What you actually need to find the fuel element of the 40 p. This can be between 11p to 18 p for petrol (see the HMRC website link below. Then you times this by the number of miles driven. e.g 0.11p x 100 = 拢11 This gives the total VAT inclusive amount given to the employee to cover the fuel exspenses. Then you must apply the VAT fraction to work out the VAT amount. X 7 / 47 = 拢1.64 (the amount that you can reclaim. The industry standard guide is the Tollies VAT Guide. However, I would probably look at taking a course that goes into VAT in a decent amount of detail as it is pretty complex. PLEASE NOTE that in order to find out the VAT on a inclusive VAT amount, you must use the VAT Fraction: multiply by 7 divide by 47 or the resulting figure will be wrong. Source(s): http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cars/advisory_fue... HMRC publish VAT guides. They have general guides which explain the basic principles underlying VAT and its administration. They also issue a considerable number of specialist guides covering the rules as they apply to different types of businesses. If you set up a business the appropriate guides are normally sent straight out to you. These are guides, which are intended to assist businesses get their VAT right, and are not a statement of the law, and HMRC cannot be bound by them. It is also important to bear in mind that VAT law is constantly evolving. Your question embraces the need to know general principles and also very specific points, like the one you referred to. I always found HMRC booklets quite useful. If you write to them with a query, they will usually respond. They don't like answering over the telephone though, because there is no evidence of what was agreed. I always thought that mileage rates had to be agreed with HMRC because both the revenue and customs have an interest in this. Again, I thought that you could only recover the vat on the petrol element of the agreed mileage rate. If you have a vat inclusive figure, the vat element is calculated by multiplying by 17.5/117.5 assuming vat is 17.5%. Applied to the petrol element only. It is also directly relevant to know whether you are registered for vat purposes as Taxable, exempt or partially exempt. If you are exempt you will not be able to recover any vat charged to you, or, if you are partially exempt, the rules are more complex. Do you have an accountant? Most people can't be bothered with vat and let their accountant deal with it. Does your book-keeping business require you to know the vat rules for different types of business? if it does, I think that you might have bitten off more than you can chew. no sorry |
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