VAT issues (was: Re: Spaceships American Style?)

 How willing are companies when it comes to requests to knock the VAT
off the top?  In additon, how do we know what merchants are including
the VAT?   Eli 



  In the UK, all companies that have a turnover (that's TURNOVER, not
profit!) of over a certain figure (I think it's around 56K UKP at
present) must by law be registered for VAT, charge VAT on their prices
(where applicable, as things like books, most foods and kid's clothing
are zero VAT) and then pay this VAT collected over to the government via
H.M. Customs and Excise. 

 If goods are exported to destinations outside the European Union, the
buyer does not have to pay VAT - so if the seller is registered for VAT
and they don't take this off the price (assuming it's a VAT-rated item
in the first place), then the buyer is being charged a tax that they
should not be having to pay. The business may then be either keeping
this money, in which case they are making an extra profit, or paying it
over in their VAT returns (in which case the UK Government are getting
extra money they shouldn't be!). 

 A VAT registered company SHOULD, in theory, have their registration
number quoted on their paperwork, catalogues, letterheads etc., and they
should also state that their prices include VAT where applicable (or
they can list their prices ex-VAT, but this generally isn't done except
for sellers of mainly business-use items). 

 If a business is small enough that it does not have to be VAT
registered (and many wargame businesses fall into this category,
especially the part-time ones) then their retail prices do not have a
VAT component added in - of course, this SHOULD be reflected in their
prices being generally lower in the first place. 

 I'm not sure if it is actually a legal requirement for a company to
knock the VAT off for non-EU orders, and as has been said, a lot don't -
but when we hit the VAT threshold several years ago and had to register,
we inquired specifically about it, and this is the way the Customs VAT
advisor told us it should be done. So, if a company doesn't offer to do
it, it's always worth asking! 

 Jon (GZG) 



 ----- Original Message ----- *From:* Tony Francis *To:*
gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu *Sent:* Thursday, December 18, 2003 8:35 AM
*Subject:* Re: Spaceships American Style? 

 Doug Evans wrote:







  I think I need more coffee...



 Bang on! I think I'll join you...



 By the way, I'd like to point out there is still a fair amount of the

 former Geo-Hex produced GZG ships on the market, whether on eBay or
local

 game shops. By all means, have a look.



 As I hope to be putting some fleets on eBay in the near future, I again

 remind all that there's a fair amount of various Micro Machines at very
low

 prices, with ships in Star Wars, Star Trek, and B5 available.



 But mostly, BE NOT AFRAID OF TRANS-ATLANTIC TRANSACTIONS! Jon is most
easy

 to deal with, and many others have already sung high praises of the

 quickness of deliveries. Little known fact: Brits want our money. ;->=

   Another myth that needs debunking is that it costs more to order
overseas. In the case of larger companies, their prices include VAT
which can be deducted for non-EU orders; this is usually enough to
offset some or all of the shipping costs. Another point to bear in mind
is that if you were to buy (say) UK products from a distributor in the
US, you may not pay as much in direct shipping but then they will
probably cost more model-for-model since the dustributor will have built
another layer of profit in.



 And yes, we do want your money ;-)



 Tony