VAT issues (was: Re: Spaceships American Style?)

How willing are companies when it comes to requests to knock the VAT off the
top? In additon, how do we know what merchants are including the VAT?  Eli

In the UK, all companies that have a turnover (that's TURNOVER, not profit!)
of over a certain figure (I think it's around 56K UKP at present) must by law
be registered for VAT, charge VAT on their prices (where applicable, as things
like books, most foods and kid's clothing are zero VAT) and then pay this VAT
collected over to the government via H.M. Customs and Excise.

If goods are exported to destinations outside the European Union, the
buyer does not have to pay VAT - so if the seller is registered for VAT
and they don't take this off the price (assuming it's a VAT-rated item
in the first place), then the buyer is being charged a tax that they should
not be having to pay. The business may then be either keeping this money, in
which case they are making an extra profit, or paying it over in their VAT
returns (in which case the UK Government are getting extra money they
shouldn't be!).

A VAT registered company SHOULD, in theory, have their registration number
quoted on their paperwork, catalogues, letterheads etc., and they should also
state that their prices include VAT where applicable (or
they can list their prices ex-VAT, but this generally isn't done except
for sellers of mainly business-use items).

If a business is small enough that it does not have to be VAT registered (and
many wargame businesses fall into this category,
especially the part-time ones) then their retail prices do not have a
VAT component added in - of course, this SHOULD be reflected in their
prices being generally lower in the first place.

I'm not sure if it is actually a legal requirement for a company to
knock the VAT off for non-EU orders, and as has been said, a lot don't -
but when we hit the VAT threshold several years ago and had to register, we
inquired specifically about it, and this is the way the Customs VAT advisor
told us it should be done. So, if a company doesn't offer to do it, it's
always worth asking!

Jon (GZG)

[quoted original message omitted]