Reply to: laptop for business: reclaim vat

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Typical nonsense from another overgrown organisation where business process no longer directs IT, and IT directs business process. Apple FAIL

Quite, especially as the updated invoices they sent me appeared to be debit notes and each came with a corresponding credit note, so why they couldn't have just issued a single debit/credit note...who knows!

[CheeseSlice]

Apple got back to me and confirmed they cannot issue a combined invoice unless I return everything and re-order

Typical nonsense from another overgrown organisation where business process no longer directs IT, and IT directs business process. Apple FAIL

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Apple's finance team dropped me another email and said that even though they could not issue a new invoice, they were able to re-issue the existing invoices with the additional statement "This document relates to the single purchase of <order number> from Apple." which I suppose is better than nothing.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

OK, I'm mostly satisfied that I won't have a problem but I thought there is no harm in trying to get a combined invoice out of Apple anyway.

The initial response was that I would have to return everything (!) and re-order and select combined shipping to get a single invoice. Seems quite ridiculous. I responded asking why they couldn't issue a new invoice and a corresponding credit note, which seems the logical solution from a bookkeeping perspective, unless I'm missing something obvious. My request has been forwarded to their finance team.

UPDATE: Apple got back to me and confirmed they cannot issue a combined invoice unless I return everything and re-order, so I'm just going to leave it and hope the proof of order is satisfactory if questioned.

[ThomserveBAS]

Thanks for the extra reassurance Jessica.

I very much doubt I will draw the attention of the VAT man anyway as it's only the second time in 5 years trading I've made a capital purchase claim. But you never know...

My order from Ebuyer had several different invoices (as parts were dispatched from various warehouses) but as they could all be linked back to a single order number, my accountant had no queries with it.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Concur

Thanks for the extra reassurance Jessica.

I very much doubt I will draw the attention of the VAT man anyway as it's only the second time in 5 years trading I've made a capital purchase claim. But you never know...

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

Heard back from my accountant and he thinks the multiple invoices should be ok as long as I can prove it was the same order, which I can. Each invoice is dated differently (the shipping date) but contains the original order date and identical order numbers. I have a copy of the order. He thinks at worst there is a "small risk" but that HMRC would probably be pragmatic about this. .

Concur

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Heard back from my accountant and he thinks the multiple invoices should be ok as long as I can prove it was the same order, which I can. Each invoice is dated differently (the shipping date) but contains the original order date and identical order numbers. I have a copy of the order. He thinks at worst there is a "small risk" but that HMRC would probably be pragmatic about this.

Like Cheese Slice I also use FreeAgent and have entered the purchase as a single bill to account for the separate payments which in turn shows a single capital item in the books. Bit annoying that FreeAgent doesn't let you add separate lines to a bill but not a big issue I guess as both items depreciate the same anyway.

[cojak]

I had no problems at all when I bought my MBP and software from Apple.

[CheeseSlice]

As an aside, annoyingly Apple charged my card for each item separately and sent me individual invoices for each item even though they were purchased together. I've heard from others that they often do this. I should still be ok to claim the VAT as it's still clearly a single purchase (I have my order as proof and each invoice quotes the same order number) but I am still waiting for confirmation from my accountant on this. I might try and get a single VAT invoice out of them but I imagine that might prove difficult. Something to bear in mind if you are ordering from Apple!

+1. Lenovo will do this too.

They do a really weird thing through the 'Digital River' website (their authorised reseller based in Luxembourg, selling on behalf of their business partner Lenovo in Hook, UK. Hmmmmm...).
You can view and print a single invoice (showing tax) on the web page, but you also get individual PDF VAT invoices for each item as they arrive separately. Each one has the same order number.
I use FreeAgent for my accounts so I created a single 'Bill' for the main invoice, and then I can account for the separate payments as paying towards the same bill.

[Scrag Meister]

You're right, depends if OP meant £1500 net or gross. I assumed he meant gross, in which case he still has another £500 inc VAT to spend.

I've just done this myself. New Apple MBP and iPad and saved about £400 in VAT.

As an aside, annoyingly Apple charged my card for each item separately and sent me individual invoices for each item even though they were purchased together. I've heard from others that they often do this. I should still be ok to claim the VAT as it's still clearly a single purchase (I have my order as proof and each invoice quotes the same order number) but I am still waiting for confirmation from my accountant on this. I might try and get a single VAT invoice out of them but I imagine that might prove difficult. Something to bear in mind if you are ordering from Apple!

I had a similar issue when I bought my first hardware from Dell back in 2007.

I just rung them up asked if they could merge the parts of the order onto 1 invoice, Bob's your uncle, 1 invoice.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

But that extra £500 effectively costs £167. And that's before you account for corp tax etc, so seems like it is worth it to me.

That's one ay of looking at it.

The other way of looking at it is if you'd just bought the £1500 laptop, you'd be £167 better off and you'd still have a new laptop.

For me the line is where spending more would result in a net reduction in the cost, but it really depends on what you're buying I guess.

[mudskipper]

You're right, depends if OP meant £1500 net or gross. I assumed he meant gross, in which case he still has another £500 inc VAT to spend.

I've just done this myself. New Apple MBP and iPad and saved about £400 in VAT.

As an aside, annoyingly Apple charged my card for each item separately and sent me individual invoices for each item even though they were purchased together. I've heard from others that they often do this. I should still be ok to claim the VAT as it's still clearly a single purchase (I have my order as proof and each invoice quotes the same order number) but I am still waiting for confirmation from my accountant on this. I might try and get a single VAT invoice out of them but I imagine that might prove difficult. Something to bear in mind if you are ordering from Apple!

But that extra £500 effectively costs £167. And that's before you account for corp tax etc, so seems like it is worth it to me.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Are you? My understanding is that if you spend £2000 inc VAT you can claim back the VAT.

So 2K's worth of stuff will cost you £1666.67 - for an extra £166.67 you can have 500 squids worth of shiny new stuff!

You're right, depends if OP meant £1500 net or gross. I assumed he meant gross, in which case he still has another £500 inc VAT to spend.

I've just done this myself. New Apple MBP and iPad and saved about £400 in VAT.

As an aside, annoyingly Apple charged my card for each item separately and sent me individual invoices for each item even though they were purchased together. I've heard from others that they often do this. I should still be ok to claim the VAT as it's still clearly a single purchase (I have my order as proof and each invoice quotes the same order number) but I am still waiting for confirmation from my accountant on this. I might try and get a single VAT invoice out of them but I imagine that might prove difficult. Something to bear in mind if you are ordering from Apple!

[kal]

Are you? My understanding is that if you spend £2000 inc VAT you can claim back the VAT.

So 2K's worth of stuff will cost you £1666.67 - for an extra £166.67 you can have 500 squids worth of shiny new stuff!

WHS Am looking at the new top of the line macbook pro 15 which costs more than 2k without any software extras!