If you're a VAT-registered small business or freelance you occasionally come up against ignorance or pure willfulness on the part of bigger organisations.
I love this story about one man's tenacity in the face of Apple's 'have a good day' wall of indifference.
The real problem is that so many people in big organisations haven't got a clue how VAT works, which is why it's such fun when we talk about it in our self-employment workshops.
And small businesses can avoid all the nonsense of collecting piddling VAT receipts by using the VAT Flat Rate Scheme, one of Gordon Brown's better ideas.
Hello David,
I'm not sure I have the same tenacity as Jeremy Richards, mentioned in your blog, who eventually received a VAT from Apple, but I'm in the same position as regards Amazon and their e-books on Kindle.
They insist that unlike ordinary books, they need to charge VAT on e-books, however these "are for personal use only" and so refuse to offer a VAT receipt.
I've asked and failed several times, but need to try again since books for me are part of my work. Personal use or not, if a client requests a VAT receipt the supplier must produce one. I suspect it's something to do with being based in Luxembourg and sourcing materials from different countries perhaps.
Either way REALLY REALLY annoying.. I'm not saving masses here, but every VAT receipt helps.
Meanwhile - hope business is thriving!
Best wishes
Nicky Barranger
www.theinterviewonline.co.uk
Posted by: Nicola Barranger | Friday, 18 May 2012 at 10:19 AM