newhome

Hmm, well I wrote that post but I didn't know you could claim for muckaway using the method you have, ie engaged the muckaway contractor and paid them directly. It's good news if this does qualify for zero rating however because TBH it's hard to see how you can clear a site without removing things from it so surely muckaway should all be part and parcel of clearing the site. It begs the question as to why skips are alway standard rated however as they can be used for site clearance too. Moral of the story, it's always worth a punt in terms of getting site work zero rated.

Yep! If the company in question zero rates something even if not eligible then happy days. It'll only be an issue if HMRC don't like it in the muckaway company's next VAT return and come after them for the VAT in which case they could come after the self builder. It makes no odds what the call centre says though as @HerbJ was told that he could claim for a safe by the call centre and then at the reclaim stage he was told that it wasn't eligible. I guess if it's really important you need to write to them rather than ring them. They have the position of power sadly.

That would be my assessment too. As it happens there is another thread discussing the same thing:

I've just read that blog and I can't see any clear rationale as to how a lorry arriving to collect muck on its own and not part of a combined 'groundworks' arrangement is zero rated, especially since HMRC even mentions muckaway as a service on which VAT must be paid on the reclaim form. That said, nothing ventured and at the end of the day it's what you can get your supplier to do in terms of invoicing that's important. If they will zero rate then happy days, if not then it's suck it up baby I think as it's not something where it is clear that it should be zero rated. For others reading here is the blog post that discusses this: And a post elsewhere that discusses the same thing: https://www.self-build.co.uk/question/vat-free-demolition-muckaway-new-build/ And here is a tribunal case which is not quite the same as the appellant was trying to recover the VAT from HMRC via the DIY Housebuilders reclaim process and was refused (and presumably zero rating at source had already been refused by the supplier). https://library.croneri.co.uk/cch_uk/bvc/2014-tc-04069 If you attempt to reclaim something that should have been zero rated at source (supply and fit for example) then generally HMRC will reject the invoice but in doing do will state that you need to go back to the supplier and ask for the invoice to be corrected if it is eligible to be zero rated. The fact that they didn't in this case means that they do not consider that these services that can be zero rated in this scenario I imagine. See this post for the an example letter that is received from HMRC during the reclaim process (see the reason code for invoices rejected - 2 or 3 are about VAT wrongly charged at source) https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/6851-a-guide-to-the-vat-reclaim-process/?do=findComment&comment=115967 And another https://library.croneri.co.uk/cch_uk/bvc/2011-tc-00873 NB - I don't suggest that you put through every invoice for which you have paid VAT to see if HMRC consider that it is eligible for zero rating at source as they can and do fine people if they send in multiple invoices incorrectly (a few should be ok I imagine).

Missed this important point. You can’t ‘claim back’ any VAT for services or labour as the reclaim process is for materials only. If you get wrongly charged VAT on labour or services that are able to be zero rated (erection of scaffolding for example) you have to ask the supplier to correct the invoices to get the VAT back.

Ordinarily it can't be zero rated but if you engage a VAT registered trader to do 'groundworks' that include muckaway then all of their work should be zero rated. Similarly if they are hiring in machinery alongside the groundworks you will enjoy zero rating on the whole invoice as the whole invoice should be charged at the lowest applicable rate. In your scenario they can't zero rate your invoice as it's just for materials (I think?) so it has to have VAT applied and thus you have to pay VAT on the muckaway. If they have zero rated the aggregate as some sort of supply and fit affair then the muckaway should be zero rated too if on the same invoice. A driver isn't providing a service if they are just delivering stuff. They have to be physically doing something on the build like operating a crane or whatever afaik. That said, if you ask and get away with zero rating then it may be worth a punt, but be aware that they can come after you for the VAT later if HMRC see that they have charged the wrong rate. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/6851-a-guide-to-the-vat-reclaim-process/?do=findComment&comment=115965

Me too! I won’t be scraping mine out afterwards though. It will have to do.

Not sure if this helps? http://www.woodworkersuk.co.uk/blog/tips-and-tricks/my-oak-has-gone-black/

Or in @Onoff‘s world scraping the new silicone out 😂

Good! It would be just my luck to end up with a cheapo crap thing!

My kit arrived and came with these instructions. Doesn’t say Fugi anywhere in the instructions but it says ‘Cramer Fugi’ in the description on Amazon so I hope it’s the same thing.

Ha, good plan! And a bag of rubbish balanced on the bike as that's the way you are transporting it .

+1 - better to try to sort it out amicably if you can. Go round and have a chat explaining that you've checked with your solicitor and they have confirmed that it's on the deeds and you need access to do xxx. If they still won't budge write them a letter confirming this and saying that you've CCed your solicitor into the correspondence. It can get expensive if there ends up being a big dispute, not to mention a bad atmosphere amongst neighbours and you would need to declare this if you ever sold.

Not a lot of point on their own. The latter 2 are frequent flyer reward programmes so to make the most of them you either need to fly often and build up a large balance of points or collect points in other ways. That might be via a credit card, rental cars, hotels, money transfers, Tesco points or whatever but you have to have a strategy and know what you want to do with the points once you've built up a decent enough. Points for the sake of it are just well, pointless. Sometimes you can transfer between schemes too. Accounts generally expire if they've been dormant for a while (ie no point gaining activity) so be sure to understand what to do to prevent this from happening. Head For Points is a decent enough place to start. It's quite Avios centric but it has lots of other info too. https://www.headforpoints.com/

Would a highly concentrated solution of this work as a weedkiller on gravel?