IT company but can I order in a Kitchen?

[The GreenFox]

Hi all.

I am a Ltd IT company providing IT consultancy as a one man band. I'm also doing renovation at my property, namely a kitchen at the moment.

As i'll be purchasing it myself, would it be immoral or illegal to open a trade account with, say, Howdens using the Ltd company in order to purchase a kitchen at trade prices much like a builder would do?

Is this something that people do or just a stupid idea? I'm thinking it's a stupid idea because I can't see how I would do it - purchase the kitchen as a company and sell it to myself as a customer?

I want to be clear, this is not to avoid any tax or vat or do anything illegal so if it is then i'm not interested


On a vaguely similar vein - as an IT company, how far can a company stray from it's original purpose, say, starts designing and selling kitchens instead of IT?

Thanks!

N

[Lance]

You could just tell them you want trade price. They might well be amenable.

As long as you don't pay using company funds you will be fine. You're unlikely to get a credit account anyway so you pay by personal credit card. Neither immoral or illegal.

[vwdan]

I do and did this all the time. I'm a builder, an electrician and a mechanic! You'll need to BS a bit, depends on how moral you are but the savings can be good.

Always just paid cash on my own cards so nothing ever touches the company at all. Nobody has ever queried it, or even noticed it.

I doubt the retailers particularly care

[The GreenFox]

Thanks both - seems to make sense. I've managed to open up an account with them, the assistant said it would be ok even though i'm in IT.

So if I just pay using my private accounts then it doesn't really matter in terms of my Ltd Co accounting. But is this still fraudulent in the eyes of businesses like Howdens?


N

[SueEllen]

Thanks both - seems to make sense. I've managed to open up an account with them, the assistant said it would be ok even though i'm in IT.

So if I just pay using my private accounts then it doesn't really matter in terms of my Ltd Co accounting. But is this still fraudulent in the eyes of businesses like Howdens?


N

Nope.

People do it at places like Costco all the time.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Seems ok to me, if you pay from the company account you can just credit the payments to your director loan account and pay the company back.

You won't be able to reclaim any VAT though.

[Lost It]

Well I'm a builder and I also dabble in buying and selling cars. both separate businesses. So the "Builder" account doesn't get touched. You can get trade accounts with many places without too much hassle. Most only want to see headed paper. Or even business cards.

[chineseJohn]

I'm registered with various Cash and Carry's, Selco builders merchants. It's no problem if you're paying out your own funds and you don't touch your company account.