VAT on Podiatric Business

Members do not see these Ads. Sign Up.

I am a student who has been given the task of buying an imaginary business and then improving it. The basic guidline is that the existing owner has a turnover of £60,000 based on mainly podiatric care with just a few sales of orthotic products. Nowhere can I see a mention of VAT and I can't glean from the HM Customs site if such a type of medical business is VAT exempt or not. Can anyone with such a real life business with a turnover exceeding the VAT threshold tell me if VAT is levied on foot care services excluding the direct sale of orthotic produvts. Thank you

 

re VAT

Dear Studentx,

There are very good reasons not to be VAT reg.

There are very good reasons to be VAT reg.

It is down to the nature of the business and the advice of your accountant.

If you are providing orthotics / insoles as part of the t/t plan then this is VAT free.
As t/t is vat free, so no need to reg for vat.

If as part of your business you wish to retail creams potions etc etc then if that is over i think £25k in a year then vat reg is mandatory.

If you retail then you claim back vat paid on supplies and pay vat on retail sale.
The above is simplistic.

Blag half an hour of a friendly accountants time and he will give you the info that you need.

Or if your UNI has a business school ask one of those students over a beer or three at the bar.

My practice was not vat reg so i did not charge VAt on my fees , but i could not claim back VAT paid on supplies and services.

So you pays your money always you pays your money to the tax man one way or another.

regards David

 

If registered for VAT, Podiatry Practices are only partially exempt.

This means that you can only claim back a proportion of the VAT you have paid and that will vary according to your turnover in that quarter. In other words, the only person who will benefit from you being registered is your accountant as his/her fee will be far larger than the amount of VAT you will be able to reclaim.

That is my experience anyway, after taking the advice of my accountant and registering for VAT, it was after happily reclaiming hundreds of pounds worth of VAT fro 9 months that I discovered that he didn't know what he was taliking about.

VAT is not chargeable on medical fees, so the usual £60k turnover requiring a business to register for VAT doesn't apply.

My advice would be don't register if you don't have to.

 

I really appreciate your advice folks. I submit my test paper on Monday and your input has been invaluable.