urgent VAT question

[Dmac83]

Hi all,

im new to the forum and new to business. I have just setup my own co. After being made redundant from offshore work due to oil prices. I have a lot of work available back home so took the jump and registered CIS self employed. I haven't registered for VAT as I am a one man band think not the best idea yet. Anyway

where I need help is here.

i won a job on tender and say the job is £1000 plus Vat. Material was £500 and labour £500 I ised a friend to get the material on his account who is VAT registered so can I get my friend to invoice the co. I'm doing the work for. So they would then have a VAT invoice.

i hope I'm putting this easy enough. Material was bought through friend with VAT account so can I get an invoice from him and forward to contractor to allow them to claim the VAT back on work.

[ianoz]

Welcome to the forum mate .,Unfortunately being in Australia , I am not up on the VAT in the UK .
If it is the same as our GST {Goods and services tax} I can't really answer a non registered Question as i am registered .What I understand of our system .when you buy stuff ,you pay GST , If you do work , you can not Add on GST , and you are deemed as the end user and can not claim back the GST on the goods you bought for the job ..
I don;t think your friend will be able to invoice , the company you are doing the job for ,he will have to bill you and you pay the Vat . Sounds like a minefield ,that i can't really help with .

[Muz]

Its simply that you would not be able to charge any VAT to your client, but you would need to pay it on the cost of your supplies. Best to get registered quickly then !. You could ofcourse just pass the job to your VAT registered friend and he could treat you as a subcontractor doing the work for him ? .. until you get registered. Welcome to the forum BTW

[Muz]

On the up side .. if you dont need a lot of materials for your work and its you supplying your labour mostly, VAT isnt really an issue because you're not buying anything in. Businesses have zero rated supplies that they buy all the time, such as insurance (although that does have insurance premium tax but is non claimable) and food costs, road tax etc, rates, so to receive an invoice that doesent contain any VAT wouldn't be a problem for them. There is a threshold however after which you must become registered.