When a business owner plans to open a new company in the United Kingdom, he has to fulfill the legal requirements of company formation. VAT registration is also an essential part of operating a company, and should not be ignored for a long time, as it may lead to penalization.
VAT or ' Value Added Tax' is the tax paid by the customers on the purchase of any item. However,
VAT is not applicable to all the products and services that reach the consumers. There are certain items and services that do not come under the scope of VAT.
It becomes essential for businesses to charge VAT on the products and services provided to consumers and to the other business. However, VAT cannot be charged by a business, if it has a turnover beyond the current threshold level of £70,000. This means, any business that has a turnover which exceeds the amount of £70,000 has to be registered for VAT with HMRC. If the company fails to complete VAT registration, it is subjected to financial penalties.
Why Is It Important to Carry Out the VAT Registration?
When anyone plans to operate the business in the United Kingdom, it becomes essential to carry out the all legal requirements that are required for the smooth run of business. Unless, the entrepreneur is aware of the completing all the legal requirements, it is likely that carrying out the liabilities will not be easy for him. Whether, a business meets the requirement of VAT registration or not it is mandatory to get registered for VAT. VAT registration helps in claiming VAT back on each business expenses, such as the expenses on stationary, office equipment, petrol, and travel. If the business is not registered for VAT, it is liable to pay the VAT on time, because there is high penalties for late payers.
Voluntary VAT registration is beneficial for those companies, which have to sell any VAT rated product and buying another VAT rated product. Therefore, if a company is selling zero rated product and has to purchase the product with the standard rated product, it becomes eligible to receive the money back from HMRC.
Penalties related to failure of VAT registration
If the company fails to register for VAT, as soon as, it becomes liable to do so will result in incurring a heavy penalty on the company. Therefore, the business owners must take the precautionary measures to get VAT registered at the time of completing another formalities of company formation. The faulted companies are subjected for the amount of penalty that goes in proportion with the VAT payments accrued within the time period, in which the company becomes liable to register and actually getting registered. According to the norms, the company is liable to pay 5% penalty for the first nine months of delay. The percentage of penalty increases to 10, between the time span of nine to eighteen months of delay, and the penalty becomes 15% for the delay of more than eighteen months.
Current rate Of VAT in the United Kingdom
At present, there are three rates of VAT for the various products and services in the United Kingdom: 1. The current rate of 17.5% is likely to change to 20% from Jan 4, 2011. 2.Reduced rate of 5%
3.0% - zero rated
4.Exempt
Whereas, the standard rate of 17.5% are charged for most of the products and services, the reduced rate of 5% is charged on some special items, such as power, fuel, children's car seats, residential conversions, and sanitary products related to women. Though, the customer is not required to pay on the zero rated products, still they are considered as taxable products. The zero rated products include the food items, clothing, children's books, equipments meant for the use of blind people, advertisements for charities, and aircraft and ship repairs. At the same time, there are other kind of products, which are tax exempt. The tax exempt things includes the education services, insurance and gambling.
The process of VAT registration
For getting VAT registration, it is essential to complete Her Majesties Revenue and Customs (HMRC) form, where the business owner have to provide a reason for registering with HMRC. One has to fill VAT1 if the sales in the UK has exceeded the limit VAT1A is to be filled if the sales to the other European countries have exceed it limits. Similarly, VAT1B is to be completed for purchase from the other European countries. The most important of all, form VAT 1C is to be filled for the voluntary registration.
