Should you be registered for VAT?

As the VAT registration and deregistration thresholds have recently changed I thought that it would be useful to have a brief review of the rules about VAT registration and deregistration.

If you are running a business you should be considering VAT, if you already achieve a turnover of over £83,000 or if you are about to do so in the next 12 months. A great number of people forget that “running a business” includes self-employed activity (for example if you are an architect)

If you are VAT registered and your annual turnover is under £81,000 you are entitled to deregister, but does it make business sense to deregister?

There are disadvantages to do so and as always there are also advantages, for example if your clients cannot recover VAT, the decision needs to be carefully considered.

As always with tax there are a lot of details and “small print”- unfortunately the rules for VAT are complex and stretch over thousands of pages of legislation, comments, articles and tribunal (court) cases. I cannot answer your questions for why it has to be so complicated and that’s probably a topic for another day

In the meantime if you have any queries it’s probably sensible to take professional advice – it does not have to be an AIMS accountant, just make sure that your tax adviser is a professionally qualified accountant, so that you get the best possible input and advice.

If you like the way we think – you will like the way we work, so why not talk it through with an AIMS Accountant who can explain it to you in more detail.

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