Company not providing VAT invoice - options

[BMcN]

I purchased doors which I have paid for and received.  However I did not receive a VAT invoice and the company is ignoring my requests to send one.  

 

What options do I have?  I am keen to get this back as it is around 600 worth of VAT. 

 

I have an ebay invoice stating the amount paid but VAT is not itemised on it and the companies VAT details are also not on this.  I have a copy of the emails agreeing the pre vat price and then the price once VAT is applied.

 

Thanks

 

 

[mvincentd]

Have your requests pointed out to them that as a vat registered entity actively collecting vat they have a legal obligation to provide properly formatted vat receipts and that you intend to inform hmrc that they are not in compliance with this.

[Bozza]

If you have only communicated your request by email could I suggest you phone the company in person and speak to a human. I’ve always found that when a problem exists speaking to people directly and reasonably gets results whereas emails can get ignored, passed around etc.    Above advice re HMRC regs is excellent but I would keep that threat in the armoury.  It’s far less easy for a person at the end of the phone to ignore you if you’re reasonable, friendly and on first name terms. Only escalate to next stage if necessary / needed.  

 

If if you speak to someone and say “Look I’m really happy within my doors etc and want to leave a great review but I have a problem which will take 5 mins to resolve and it’s this...”.   Make sure you get the name of the person you’re speaking to and ask them how long they will take to action your request.  

 

Sorry if if you’ve done this and thus this is a patronising answer but obviously I have no way knowing if you’ve just sent emails.

 

But if that doesn’t work deffo hit them with that HMRC threat.   

 

 

 

 

[nod]

If they have a vet number on your original bill Go directly to HMRC 

If not they may not be vat registered 

A log of  the online suppliers are not registered   

[Dreadnaught]

Under pressure, I believe that eBay is tightening requirements for its sellers with regard to VAT. If the seller is UK based, I wonder if approaching eBay might be another avenue.

[nod]

I was about to order some after market side steps for my pickup 

The seller had sold over a thousand of these 

I contend him and asked if he could generate an invoice He told me we are not vat registered 

Many don’t seem to bother 

[BMcN]

Sorry I should have provided more information.  

 

I found the seller through ebay but the purchase was not completed through ebay.  The transaction was done via email and paid through PayPal (they sent invoice, no vat details were on it).  VAT was added to our agreed price and a quick company house search did show them as having a VAT number.  

 

@mvincentd I have not taken that approach yet, wanted to see what my options were first.

 

I have not spoken to anyone via phone, the only number I have goes to someone polish.

[newhome]

Oh that's a pain because eBay may have helped you out with this. Unfortunately I don't believe that a supplier has a legal obligation to provide a VAT invoice unless you are VAT registered (although most do) so ALWAYS best to clarify that they will do so before purchase. How do you have an eBay invoice if the transaction wasn't completed through eBay however? 

 

From the Gov.uk site:

 

Quote

If you sell a customer a product or a service, you need to give them an invoice (bill) by law if both you and the customer are registered for VAT (a business to business transaction). An invoice is not the same as a receipt, which is an acknowledgement of payment.

 

https://www.gov.uk/invoicing-and-taking-payment-from-customers

 

http://stewartaccounting.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Do-you-always-have-to-issue-a-VAT-invoice.pdf

 

What options do you have? Well, if the company still refuses to send you one maybe you can add the VAT number to the invoice yourself (assuming all of the other details required are on there)? An invoice does not have to show VAT separately and there is a separate section in the claim form for purchases where VAT is not shown separately. I had a few such invoices (although they did all have the VAT number on them) and one where the VAT was worth several hundred pounds. The VAT for all of these was refunded without any issues.

 

For this particular transaction I would attach the receipt from Paypal. Plus keep hold of the emails. It may still not get paid if HMRC aren't happy with it but it's your best shot if you really can't get an invoice from them.  

 

 

[BMcN]

Thanks all.  I do not have an e ay invoice @newhome, it is a paypal invoice.

 

I could maybe raise a case on paypal, asking for the VAT amount back unless an invoice is provided.   Failing that and failing the seller helping out I will go with the option of adding the VAT number myself, possibly with a note and copy of email agreement.

 

[newhome]

This seems to be yet another area where the self builder is at a disadvantage because the reclaim scheme requires an invoice yet legally a VAT registered seller does not have to supply one to an individual. 

 

This thread is quite old but relevant:

 

https://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/is-a-paypal-receipt-sellers-vat-number-sufficient-to-claim-back-vat.285317/

 

I would keep on at the seller and say that you will report them to HMRC if they don't supply an invoice showing the VAT paid. They may not know that legally they don't have to supply one. Ultimately you do take a bit of a chance when dealing with eBay sellers unfortunately, and not going through eBay puts you at an even greater disadvantage as eBay supply a seller with the tools to create invoices etc. 

 

[recoveringbuilder]

I just got all my invoices back this morning and confirmation that my full claim is payable, this includes some invoices that were in my builders name , some in my plumbers name and one for glass that was provided from a local company, the only paperwork I had for this one was a worksheet with the company name on it and amount paid, no vat number on it, I didn’t expect them to pay this one but decided to put it in anyway, happy days! Oh and it’s only 8 weeks since I submitted it!

[newhome]

1 hour ago, Christine Walker said:

a worksheet with the company name on it and amount paid, no vat number on it, I didn’t expect them to pay this one but decided to put it in anyway, happy days!

 

It seems entirely dependent on who processes the claim unfortunately (or fortunately if you get one passed that doesn’t quite fit the criteria). I had one or 2 that I thought might be a bit dodgy in that they didn’t explicitly say invoice but they were paid without question. Others on here have had similar things refused. 

 

Happy days for you though! Much better than the 20 weeks I waited last year. 

[Temp]

If you really can't get a VAT reciept..

 

I would add their vat number and the vat calculation on a post-it note stuck to a print out of whatever documents you have. 

 

Put a normal entry in the spreadsheet.

[joe90]

Some of my receipts had VAT numbers on them but my VAT reclaimer contacted them to ask for “proper “ VAT receipts ( I didn’t know they were not “proper”). and they all replied with the proper receipt. Perhaps an “official” request prompted a quick reply in my case.

[newhome]

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

Perhaps an “official” request prompted a quick reply in my case.

 

I doubt it TBH as I have seen multiple threads on accountancy sites where ‘officials’ have attempted to get invoices and failed. Mobile phone companies in particular came under a lot of criticism. It’s entirely down to the company you are dealing with quite often. I suspect that those that deal with eBay purchases may well be less inclined to provide decent VAT invoices than those that supply trades for example. A builder’s merchant will always supply a VAT invoice, whereas a retail outlet may not. 

[Bozza]

This post is a learning point for me/us to ask sellers whether they supply a VAT invoice prior to purchase so we can factor in whether we’d get 20% back or not -v- going to a non eBay supplier charging more, but we’d get the VAT back.

[Bitpipe]

On 21/10/2019 at 17:05, Temp said:

If you really can't get a VAT reciept..

 

I would add their vat number and the vat calculation on a post-it note stuck to a print out of whatever documents you have. 

 

Put a normal entry in the spreadsheet.

 

Yep, I did this for a few items - think it was window cills or something similar.

 

The emailed receipt had VAT broken out but no VAT number (they were VAT registered) so I just wrote it on to the printout which I submitted. No issues.

 

[Bitpipe]

37 minutes ago, Bozza said:

This post is a learning point for me/us to ask sellers whether they supply a VAT invoice prior to purchase so we can factor in whether we’d get 20% back or not -v- going to a non eBay supplier charging more, but we’d get the VAT back.

 

if you are charged VAT then you can claim it back. However some sellers are not VAT registered (threshold is £85k turnover) so they can't charge you VAT, never mind issue a VAT receipt.

[newhome]

8 hours ago, Bitpipe said:

 

if you are charged VAT then you can claim it back. However some sellers are not VAT registered (threshold is £85k turnover) so they can't charge you VAT, never mind issue a VAT receipt.

 

You can only claim back VAT on materials of course, and only then if the invoice doesn't include any labour. 

[Bitpipe]

19 hours ago, newhome said:

 

You can only claim back VAT on materials of course, and only then if the invoice doesn't include any labour. 

 

Correct - I was referring to the earlier posts about eBay and similar merchants who would be supplying materials only.

[newhome]

3 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

 

Correct - I was referring to the earlier posts about eBay and similar merchants who would be supplying materials only.

 

I was just really clarifying for those who may not have been sure. I knew you would know as you're no longer a VAT reclaim virgin