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The Basic Principles Of Vat By Benedict Rohan 2006-10-31 VAT (Value Added Tax) is a sales tax, levied on the expenditure of consumer goods and services and business transactions, which is paid by the consumer at the point of purchase and collected by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). First introduced to the UK in 1973, it is now a major source of revenue for the government.
There are four different categories for VAT: standard rate (17.5%) for goods and services considered to be ‘luxury’ items, reduced rate (5%) for goods and services considered to be socially or economically important, zero rate for essential goods and services and exempt rate for necessities. Some examples of zero-rated or exempt goods and services are: children’s clothes, food, public transport, newspapers, medicines, books, insurance, postal services and funerals.
For individual consumers, it’s a straightforward tax, paid at the point of purchase. For businesses, though, it’s a pretty complex system. However, put in simple terms, companies pay VAT on their purchases (known as input tax) and charge VAT on their sales (known as output tax).
All companies with an annual turnover of over £60,000 must be VAT registered with HMRC, and must pay VAT on everything they buy and sell. When your company is VAT registered, you must submit VAT returns to HMRC on a quarterly basis to declare how much VAT you have charged your customers and to recover VAT for goods or services you’ve purchased. You’ll also need to set up a system of VAT invoicing for your sales, and all paperwork relating to VAT must be retained for VAT inspection, as HMRC carries out periodic VAT audits on all VAT registered companies.
You may wonder why some goods and services are zero-rated and some are exempt – what’s the difference? The answer is that a company can’t claim back the VAT on its purchases if that company sells only goods and services that are exempt.
Otherwise, many business to business transactions (in registered, taxable companies) on goods
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and services purchased in order to make further goods or services which are then sold on (directly or indirectly) to consumers are exempt and the VAT can be reclaimed – as the VAT is paid by the consumer at the end of the line. Input VAT from goods or services that your company has purchased can be recovered through your quarterly VAT returns. You’ll need to keep the VAT invoices you were issued in order to do this. VAT invoices have to conform to certain requirements and copies of them must be kept for at least six years. These include: date of issue of the invoice invoice identification number your name and address your VAT registration number customer’s name and address customer’s VAT registration number if applicable quantity and description of goods or services supply date or payment date price exclusive of VAT price including VAT, stating the rate of VAT For small-value invoices (less than £250 including tax), you only need to specify: your name and address your VAT registration number the date of supply quantity and description of goods or services the rate of VAT applied amount payable including VAT VAT invoices don’t need to be issued for goods and services that are exempt or zero-rated, or for the supply of goods and services direct to the public, unless the customer requests one. Imports and exports are also subject to VAT regulations. When you import goods from outside the European Union (EU), you must pay VAT on them. Exports to other EU countries and non-EU countries are normally zero-rated. Article Source: http://www.upublish.info Tags: Articles Taxes **ARTTECHNORATI** Free Articles on Taxes and many other topics - Add this category to your RSS Reader
Another free Taxes article for you
About the Author:
Benedict Rohan
Biography:Author: Benedict RohanWebsite: www.mortgagenation.co.ukBenedict Rohan works as a freelance finance writer. Commercial Mortgage, Homeowner Loans, Remortgages. Free Articles on Taxes and many other topics
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Employers - Paying Your Employment Taxes To The Irs
By Richard A. Chapo
If your business has employees, you must pay employment taxes. The payment system can be a bit confusing, so this article discusses how to go about depositing employment taxes with the Read more...
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Iras--401-k-s--pensions-can-be--tax-trap--for-high-earners
By Keith-Mohn
Are you planning on leaving any dollars in your pension, 401(k) or IRA to children or grandchildren? Would you be surprised to know that the vast majority of these funds will end up with state and Read more...
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Preparing Your Buy-to-let Portfolio For Old Age
By Adrian Hudson
2006-11-13 PreambleWith a trend that has moved away from investing in equities and pensions to secure financial security Read more...
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Real Estate Ahmedabad- A Major Revenue Earner For Property Dealers
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Real Estate Ahmedabad- A Major Revenue Earner for Property DealersIntroductionProperty dealers have shifted its focus from major metros to tier-2 cities of India. In Read more...
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Keep Spending Under Control By Using Cash
<p>If you're like most people, you probably use plastic for many of your daily purchases. Since more places take credit or debit cards and many of these cards offer rewards or cash back, it is no wonder they are so easy to use. But this convenience can come at a cost. If you don't keep detailed records of your spending, using the card can lead to spending more than you normally would.</p>
<p>When you use cash for your regular daily purchases, you have a physical connection to your available money, and you can visually see how much you have and how much you spend. With a card, it's all digital and you may not review your purchases until the end of the day, week, or even month. By then, the money has long been spent. But with cash, you open your wallet or purse and immediately know how much you have available to spend, and it may keep you from buying something you don't need. So, if you have trouble keeping your spending under control, <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/budgetingyourmoney/a/usecash.htm">you may want to consider giving cash a try</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm">Keep Spending Under Control By Using Cash</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 20:42:52.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm&zItl=Keep Spending Under Control By Using Cash">Email this</a></p>Ready to Buy a Home?
<p>With the housing market still in the dumps and mortgage rates at record lows, a lot of people are considering buying a home for the first time. Taking advantage of depressed real estate prices and cheap lending does indeed make this a buyer's market. But buying a home is no simple decision. In fact, it may be one of the largest financial decisions many people make in their lifetime. So rather than jump in head first it pays to make sure owning a home is really the right decision. Here's how to determine <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/realestatemortgages/a/Are-You-Ready-To-Buy-A-Home.htm">if you are ready to buy a home</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm">Ready to Buy a Home?</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 11:44:57.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm&zItl=Ready to Buy a Home?">Email this</a></p>Pick The Right Mortgage
<p>People love the idea of owning a home, and sometimes that allure makes people do the wrong thing. That's where risky mortgages come in. For decades, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was the gold standard. You put 20 percent down, you got a 30-year loan, and that was all she wrote. But in recent years the types of mortgages offered have made a mess of the marketplace, as can be seen with the current financial crisis. Now you can get interest-only loans, 40-year loans, adjustable rate mortgages, and so on. All of these new loans make it easier to make payments on a house, but the problem is they usually put you in a worse financial situation. Here's what you need to know to avoid some of the more <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/realestatemortgages/a/Risky-Mortgage-Rundown.htm">risky home loans</a> out there.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm">Pick The Right Mortgage</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 at 20:02:50.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm&zItl=Pick The Right Mortgage">Email this</a></p>Saving Money in a Tough Economy
<p>Gas prices are relatively high and the cost of groceries are increasing faster than inflation. People everywhere are feeling the financial pressures of today's economy, and for most, the thought of saving money is a distant one. When times are tough, saving money can be difficult. Even if you're living paycheck to paycheck, there are ways you can save if you follow a few simple rules</p>
<h3>Start Small</h3>
<p>Saving money is a marathon, not a sprint. If you want to save up $1,000, it is much easier to accomplish that goal in a year compared to two months. In order to <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/savingmoney/a/wheretokeepsave.htm">put your savings plan to work</a>, the key is to start small. Can you find a way to save $5 each week? Think about it--five dollars a week is less than a lot of fast food value meals or even a few fancy coffees. Five dollars could be shaved off of each weekly grocery bill by buying a few things on sale or buying store brands. When you start with a small amount, you can find ways to save, and it adds up over time.</p>
<p>So, saving five dollars a week doesn't sound like much, but that's okay. If you saved just the five dollars a week for a year, you'd have $260, less any interest. If you're married and your spouse does the same, you will have amassed over $500 painlessly. But the idea isn't to start small and stay small. You may start at five dollars a week, but once a few weeks or a month goes by and you're used to saving that money, bump it up to $7 or even $10 each week. If you could live without five extra dollars, you could probably find you can get by without seven dollars just as easily.</p>
<p>These small incremental weekly increases will gradually change your spending habits so that you become accustomed to how much money you have available, and before you know it, you're stashing away a nice amount of money.</p>
<h3>Make Saving Automatic</h3>
<p>You've heard it before, but to make saving work, you need to pay yourself first. If you wait until all the bills are paid, groceries bought, and money otherwise spent before seeing what is left over at the end of the week, you'll always come up empty. The key to saving is to treat your savings as a bill. You find a way to pay the phone bill each month, don't you? Well, think of your weekly or monthly savings as a bill that has to be paid, and pay it before it gets spent on frivolous things.</p>
<p>To make sure you pay yourself first, you need to <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/savingmoney/a/automaticsave.htm">create an automatic savings plan</a>. This is best accomplished by setting up direct deposit with your paychecks so that a little bit goes into savings on the day you get paid. That way, on payday you don't have to worry about making a deposit yourself, and you have already put that savings out of sight and out of mind.</p>
<p>If you don't have direct deposit set up, you can always create an automatic transfer between accounts with your bank. You can schedule a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly automatic transfer that moves money from your checking to savings. If you don't have to think about it, it's much more likely to get done.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm">Saving Money in a Tough Economy</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 18:46:50.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm&zItl=Saving Money in a Tough Economy">Email this</a></p>Dealing With Low Interest Rates
<p>For a few years now interest rates as a whole have generally been falling or remain very low. Of course you may have some instances where rates are increasing, for the most part when it comes to savings accounts, CDs, and even mortgage rates, they are down sharply compared to a few years ago.</p>
<h3>Good for Debt, Bad for Savings</h3>
<p>Lower interest rates are good for borrowing money since it means you will be paying less in interest. The bad news is that the Fed rate cuts don't directly translate into lower rates for consumers. These cuts can take many months before the effects are felt on your bottom line, but you can begin shopping for lower rates now. Once you can begin to benefit from the lower rates, you'll have more money in your pocket as less is being spent on interest payments.</p>
<p>While lower interest rates saves you money when borrowing, the opposite is true when you are saving money at the bank. As interest rates fall, the rate of return on your checking, savings and CD accounts will likely follow suit. If you enjoyed the comfortable savings rates during most of 2007, you're probably not very excited as many rates have now dropped below the rate of inflation. If you can, make sure you're getting the best rate possible and explore other banks to ensure you're getting as much interest on your savings as possible.</p>
<p><strong>Learn more about interest rates:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/savingmoney/a/lowerinterest.htm">How to Plan for Lower Interest Rates</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://economics.about.com/cs/studentresources/f/interest_rate.htm">What Are Interest Rates?</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://beginnersinvest.about.com/od/banking/a/aa062405.htm">The Federal Reserve and Interest Rates</a> </li>
</ul><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/08/dealing-with-low-interest-rates.htm">Dealing With Low Interest Rates</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, January 8th, 2012 at 18:56:10.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/08/dealing-with-low-interest-rates.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/08/dealing-with-low-interest-rates.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/08/dealing-with-low-interest-rates.htm&zItl=Dealing With Low Interest Rates">Email this</a></p>
Wall Street edges up on Greece, Disney earnings
(Reuters)
<p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120208/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20120208/i/r326324562.jpg?x=130&y=97&q=85&sig=4LLXgOqRMhPHVv1PJfxSEA--" align="left" height="97" width="130" alt="A Wall St. sign is seen outside the New York Stock Exchange, February 6, 2012. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid" border="0" /></a>Reuters - Stocks edged higher on Wednesday as hopeful investors awaited the latest attempt by Greece to reach a deal on reforms in exchange for a new bailout.</p><br clear="all"/>
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The process of planning for the orderly administration and disposition of assets after the owner dies.
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