'Gross Vat Qualifying' - what do UK Dealers need from me?

deekster

Simple question, I'm about to make the trip over to the UK to buy a 2008 VW Golf TDI.

I am registered here in Ireland for VAT, as a sole trader. I want to take advantage of this and buy a model advertised on Autotrader as 'Gross Vat Qualifying'.

So, I've been calling the dealers in the UK to investigate exactly what needs to happen in order for me to only have to pay 85% of the price of the car.
The dealers that I have spoken to (in the Greater Manchester area anyway) are generally clueless. And when they hear the Irish accent I think they lose interest a bit.

Some have said I have to pay 100% of the price to the dealer and then claim it back. I don't think this is right. And even if it were, from whom would I claim it?

Would anyone know exactly what I need to tell/show these guys in order to get the 85% price?
And I assume I'm right in saying that I wont then hit for 21.5% Vat here as Vat was already paid when it was first registered in UK.

Surely someone has done this before. Thanks in advance.

Saab Ed

As far as I know the VAT is not deductable on a passenger car but only on a commercial vehicle. Now I might be wrong in saying this but I think that if you import a passenger car new from the UK and use your VAT number over there so as to import it for your business, then you should be exempt from UK VAT @ 15% but you will be liable for Irish VAT at 21.5% when you go to reg it. I think the best thing you can do is pre-reg it in the UK and import it as a used vehicle but again I think there is some revenue rule about any car being imported ( regardless of age ) with less than 3 or 6,000 miles is considered new in their eyes. I probably just made it worse for you ....sorry.

Tigger

deekster wrote: »

Simple question, I'm about to make the trip over to the UK to buy a 2008 VW Golf TDI.

I am registered here in Ireland for VAT, as a sole trader. I want to take advantage of this and buy a model advertised on Autotrader as 'Gross Vat Qualifying'.

So, I've been calling the dealers in the UK to investigate exactly what needs to happen in order for me to only have to pay 85% of the price of the car.
The dealers that I have spoken to (in the Greater Manchester area anyway) are generally clueless. And when they hear the Irish accent I think they lose interest a bit.

Some have said I have to pay 100% of the price to the dealer and then claim it back. I don't think this is right. And even if it were, from whom would I claim it?

Would anyone know exactly what I need to tell/show these guys in order to get the 85% price?
And I assume I'm right in saying that I wont then hit for 21.5% Vat here as Vat was already paid when it was first registered in UK.

Surely someone has done this before. Thanks in advance.

if you are vat reged then the cannot charge you vat
you get the car for the price / 1.15 which isn't 85% its 87%
then when you sell the car you have to pay 21% vat on the sale price unless you sell it to someone inanother eu country who is vat registered (which won't happen)

yop also have to be using the car for the business but thats a different issue and you have to buyit throughg the and for the business

are you a sole trader

mickdw

Anybody can purchase a car vat free in uk provided the car is less than 6 months and less than 6,000 miles. You then have to pay vat here based on the purchse price plus vrt also.
You being vat registered would allow you to not have to pay the vat here if it was a commercial vehicle but I doubt there is anything you can do when its a car.

Matt Simis

mickdw wrote: »

Anybody can purchase a car vat free in uk provided the car is less than 6 months and less than 6,000 miles. You then have to pay vat here based on the purchse price plus vrt also.
You being vat registered would allow you to not have to pay the vat here if it was a commercial vehicle but I doubt there is anything you can do when its a car.

But if its bought as a business use vehicle what difference does it make? Like any other business purchase, ie 50" Plasma could be for the home or equally used to demo products to customers.

deekster

Thanks for your replies.

To clarify,
the cars I'm looking at (sample vat qualifying car on autotrader) are older than 6 months and have over 6,000 miles on the clock.

Vat was already paid on them (15%) when they were first registered and when they were new.

These cars were then used as commercials or fleet cars in the UK.

So, I'd like to hear from people please who have been through this same scenario AND used their Irish Vat number when importing them to the Republic.

What documentation did you give the dealer?
What documentation should the dealer give you?

kluivert

deekster wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.

To clarify,
the cars I'm looking at (sample vat qualifying car on autotrader) are older than 6 months and have over 6,000 miles on the clock.

Vat was already paid on them (15%) when they were first registered and when they were new.

These cars were then used as commercials or fleet cars in the UK.

So, I'd like to hear from people please who have been through this same scenario AND used their Irish Vat number when importing them to the Republic.

What documentation did you give the dealer?
What documentation should the dealer give you?

Copy of your Vat Registration Certificate - that's all.

Its the same in reverse, when UK customers buy from us, we request that they provide a copy of their vat registration certificate from the HMCE and a copy of the invoice paper marked COPY, showing their head office address and vat number.

TheWaterboy

To be honest I dont think you can do this - maybe you can but it will come back and bite you in the foot.

You are correct in saying that you can get the UK VAT exempt and then pay the 21.5% whenever you sell the car.

However thats a 6.5% loss automatically as UK VAT is only 15%.

Secondly as a Sole Trader I dont think you are entitled to put the purchase of a car against your profit/loss for the year. I remember looking into that before and Accountant said as a Sole Trader you can only put mileage in.

If I were you Id check it out the legality of doing this.

jim o doom

Hey dude, I work in the VAT office - you can't claim back VAT on a passenger vehicle unless it's a commercial vehicle with NO back seats. For instance there are golf's which have been converted to sort of golf Vans, I can't look at your link because I'm in work at the moment..


But unless the vehicle is basically a no back seat commercial VRT vehicle then you can't claim it, unless you are a driving instructor.