Recording Purchases (VAT)

Accounting
1

I am recording a purchase and the purchase receipt does not detail VAT.
Laptop for example, bought for the business £500 from somewhere like Currys.
When I enter the purchase into Quickfile, do I record the breakdown of VAT (even though this is not detailed on the receipt), or do I just enter £500 (no VAT)?

I am VAT registered by the way.

2

If you are on flat rate then you cannot claim vat in general else you need to input net +vat on purchases to be able to reclaim input vat via vat return

3

I’m not on the Flat rate scheme

4

I understand that I can’t claim VAT unless I have a receipt with a certain amount of detail included from the supplier… however, how do I record the purchase on Qucikfile please so that my overall VAT submission is correct?

5

If you don’t have a VAT invoice from the supplier or at least a receipt that shows the VAT breakdown, then you’re not allowed to claim back the VAT. So in this case you’d have to enter it as £500 net and no VAT, unless there’s a way to go back to the supplier and get them to issue a valid VAT receipt. Or maybe if you have any kind of “business account” with them and gave them your email address when you bought the item, then you might find you can log in and download a VAT invoice that way.

6

Thank you.
Do I follow this rule if I have purchases (without VAT breakdown receipts) but from other EU countries such as Ireland?
I understand that I can’t claim VAT but I obviously wish to offset these purchases as expenses at year end

7

In any case where you’re not able to claim back the VAT you’ve been charged, then effectively the whole amount including VAT is an expense for your business, so you would enter the gross total as the “net” in QuickFile with “no VAT”. The same is true if you have purchased something in Ireland and been charged Irish VAT - you can’t claim non-UK VAT on a UK VAT return so you have to treat it as “no VAT” for the gross total.

Goods or services you have bought from Ireland (as opposed to in Ireland) would be different: as long as you gave them your VAT number in advance then the supplier should have invoiced you without applying their local VAT, and you then have to deal with the UK VAT yourself either as an “acquisition” (in the case of goods) or a “reverse charge” (in the case of services). Confusingly the option that is called “reverse charge” in QuickFile actually applies the goods acquisition rules instead of the reverse charge, there are other posts explaining how to correct for this if it applies to you.

8

Not having VAT breakdown on face of invoice does not prevent it from claiming vat. It would be under

Simplified VAT invoices

If you sell goods or services for £250 or less including VAT, then you can issue a less detailed VAT invoice. A simplified VAT invoice only needs to show the following information:

  • the seller’s name and address
  • the seller’s VAT registration number
  • the tax point
  • a description of the goods or services

For each different VAT rate, your simplified VAT invoice must also show:

  • the total price including VAT
  • the VAT rate applicable to the item
9

@FaradayKeynes true, though in this particular case it’s disqualified by

The thing that I find is most often missing from receipts that would otherwise be valid as simplified VAT invoices is the VAT rate applicable to each item.

10

No Vat receipt, No claim. Simple.

11

Contact Currys for a VAT receipt, it would be helpful if all business did this as a matter of form, it’s annoying to have to remember to ask for one. No one wants to pay more VAT than they have to.

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