[Closed] "Our quote for services is £.... plus VAT"

Try getting courier quotes. Plus VAT and fuel surcharge that changes every three bloody seconds

I'm fully with you on that. Had my car serviced recently, didn't listen closely when I booked it in, somewhat surprised when it was a chunk more.

They don't even do commercial stuff, Its cheating in my mind to make them look cheap.

100%. Really annoying. If there was any way not to pay it then maybe fair enough but even vat registered people pay it then claim it back. If they know they are dealing with a normal person in a normal transaction then the only price mentioned should be the full one. See also websites that list ex vat so it looks cheaper when you Google it

Simply because their fee is £x... + VAT. A solicitor for eg is charging you £300 per hour and the government is applying a 20% tax to it. It is entirely normal for professional services to be quoted like this and in fact (although I would have to double check), a requirement for them to do so due to fee transparency etc.

Also some parts of the service do not attract VAT (some of the disbursements etc) or may be taxed at a different rate so again for clarity tax is broken out.

Edit - I would at that when we do insurance quotes we have to note the premium and the tax applicable as two separate items.

It's because some of these service providers deal with businesses who appreciate having the rate broken down as they can reclaim the VAT as input tax.

Many of the websites that do the same also supply trades - see for example Screwfix, where you can choose a VAT inclusive or exclusive rate.

It's honestly not that difficult to figure out even if given a VAT exclusive figure, and hardly something worth getting massively worked up about...

Simply because their fee is £x… + VAT.

So why do you never see ex vat prices in a supermarket (plenty of different rates of there too)? Or at the barbers? As as far as I can tell the only people who do this are those that think they can get away with it and those who realise their prices are extortionate so do whatever they can to make it look cheaper.

It’s because some of these service providers deal with businesses who appreciate having the rate broken down

By all means say what the tax is but the first piece of information should be the total you pay, and if you only give one figure that should definitely be the total. It's quite common not to get the extra bit of "+ vat" information when talking about price

Yep.

When I ring up for heating oil for the house, and they know the house as we get 3 delivers per year I always ask for the quote including VAT (5%). They always quote me exVAT...

As as far as I can tell the only people who do this are those that think they can get away with it and those who realise their prices are extortionate

It's actually the opposite. It's so their price is totally transparent and they don't inflate their fees disguised as taxes etc. You know exactly how much money they are getting and how much HMRC are getting

So why do you never see ex vat prices in a supermarket (plenty of different rates of there too)?

Been to Costco?
Price given is ex vat with the vat inclusive price (if applicable) in small print alongside.

If there was any way not to pay it then maybe fair enough but even vat registered people pay it then claim it back.

Yes you hand over the sum on money. But if two vendors offer a service at say '£100' but one of those vendors isn't vat registered then although the money that changes hands is the same to a vat register buyer at  the point of purchase the reality is those are two different prices.

Yep really pisses me off. Our last architect for our barn conversion always did this....send an eye wateringly expensive quote then we've got to add 20% on.

Our new architect doesn't do it thankfully!

@Tom-B - is your new architect large enough to have to be VAT registered? If not then they won’t have to charge it

Been to Costco?

Costco isn't a supermarket.....

So why do you never see ex vat prices in a supermarket (plenty of different rates of there too)? Or at the barbers?

Because they usually sell to the public who can't reclaim VAT so don't really care.

And this...

Been to Costco?
Price given is ex vat with the vat inclusive price (if applicable) in small print alongside.

As Costco tend to sell to trade, they DO care.

At the end of the day, if you are dealing with a business that tends to primarily do business with trade, you'll find they quote prices ex. VAT (ie, builders' merchants etc).

charging you £300 per hour and the government is applying a 20% tax to it.

At least the mental arithmetic is easier than when it was 17.5% - thats one thing we can thank the Tories for. They went against their own principles of cutting taxes and instead generously increased them so the hardworking public would save money on calculator batteries 🙂

Costco isn’t a supermarket…..

No, but many of their customers are business. Same goes (I would wager) to any of the service providers that the OP is moaning about.

No, but many of their customers are business. Same goes (I would wager) to any of the service providers that the OP is moaning about.

Anything wedding related is like this. Know many businesses that can reclaim those costs?

I'm firmly with the "its to make it look cheaper camp" in a lot of cases.

Anything wedding related is like this. Know many businesses that can reclaim those costs?

yep.
Wedding planners do.
Wedding venues do.
Event companies do
etc.

Not everyone arranges their own wedding and pays for everything direct from the supplier of the service.

@dannybgoode I'm not sure actually! He comes well recommended though and his quote for building reg drawings was over 4 times cheaper than the company we were using before. 😳

I’m firmly with the “its to make it look cheaper camp” in a lot of cases.

I really don't believe it is that at all – any time I have been caught out by exc. VAT prices it has always been simply because I was buying from a trade-focussed shop.

Exactly. If I'm buying on behalf of a business, I want the ex-VAT price, because that's what it costs me.

My company lists ex-VAT prices, partly because a lot of our customers are businesses, but also because we don't know how much VAT we're going to have to charge you, as if you're a consumer in an EU member state, we have to charge you VAT according to your location, if you're a business in an EU (but not UK) state, we can charge you ex-VAT, if you're a business in the UK, we have to charge UK VAT (like a consumer) and if you're outside the EU we can charge ex-VAT.

Tax doesn't have to be be taxing, but it is.

Simply because their fee is £x… + VAT. A solicitor for eg is charging you £300 per hour and the government is applying a 20% tax to it. It is entirely normal for professional services to be quoted like this and in fact (although I would have to double check), a requirement for them to do so due to fee transparency etc.

It's really not, it's best practice (in fact it's an ASA rule in advertising) that prices should always be quote inclusive of unavoidable taxes to consumers.

Consumers, don't care that 20% of the price is tax anymore than they care 1% of it cover heat and lighting in the office, 12% goes on support staff salaries etc etc.

B2B sales are different, we prefer all prices to be ex-vat as it suits accounting systems, CRM systems etc and

CRM?

Client/customer relationship management

Depending on the length of the project, there's also the possibility that the VAT rate will change by the time you pay.

Cost £1,000 + VAT - you pay whatever the difference is.

It'll cost £1,200 - they potentially lose the difference.

Also with certain trades they are advertising their cash price without saying it. Once had a solicitor offer a cash price for conveyancing😀.

Also be wary of folks charging you VAT and not being registered for VAT themselves.
Any VAT invoice must have their VAT registration number on there and you can check online if it is valid or not.

If you're primarily B2B then yes prices should exclude VAT. We do this at work, mostly professional services. For Joe Public prices should include VAT.

Also be wary of folks charging you VAT and not being registered for VAT themselves.
Any VAT invoice must have their VAT registration number on there and you can check online if it is valid or not.

A friend was working with other trades on a site. The customer approaches the one of the builders and asks for for a cash price, to which the builder replies "I won't add the VAT for cash"

Customer dashes out for the money thinking he's got a deal when really the builder isn't VAT registered and is just getting paid what he wanted and in good time too. 😆

Irritates me too. It needs to be legislated against: the price of any product or service to a consumer should be quoted/displayed inclusive of VAT.
B2B ex-VAT is ok.

If you go to the USA all the shop prices are excluding sales tax and you have to do the arithmetic yourself as sales tax is set by the individual states. As a result you can go into 2 shops either side of the sate line, see the same item with the same advertised price and pay different amounts!!