Accounting advice

[niggsy]

VAT Registration!

I've been a contractor for a few years now but last year I created a sportswear company. Things are looking good on the sales front and I've recently started importing from India. Importing raised the question of VAT registration, should I? Shouldn't I? (I needed a VAT number to get my goods out of Stansted (used a Pseudo TURN this time)).

I buy from India and sell to retailers, I sell very little to the public. Should I register for VAT?

[Fungus]

VAT Registration!

I've been a contractor for a few years now but last year I created a sportswear company. Things are looking good on the sales front and I've recently started importing from India. Importing raised the question of VAT registration, should I? Shouldn't I? (I needed a VAT number to get my goods out of Stansted (used a Pseudo TURN this time)).

I buy from India and sell to retailers, I sell very little to the public. Should I register for VAT?

I thought you had to register for VAT if your turnover exceeded a certain amount, about £50K when I last looked. You should go to the Customs and Excise web site and find out.

[malvolio]

Quite right. As soon as your gross turnover exceeds £57k (from memory - it's something like that), you have to register for charge VAT. Do not mess around with the men from the Excise, they make the Revenue look like pussycats.

[XLMonkey]

I buy from India and sell to retailers, I sell very little to the public. Should I register for VAT?

Yes, you should. You have to pay VAT on anything that you import for commercial use in the UK. The only way to reclaim the VAT is to register.

If your sportswear business starts taking off, you might want to consider running it as a separate company from the contracting stuff, since there are lots of benefits to being flat rate registered if you are a contractor, but none if you're in the import/export business.