Claiming VAT as a freelance journalist

flogen

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could explain to me where I stand on claiming VAT? I'm a freelance journalist and have been published a handful of times with all payment coming back in my name.
I'm thinking of buying a new computer at some point in the year and figure that it would be fair to call that a business expense, given that I need it to research and write stories; so would I be eligable to claim VAT? Would I need to sort my NUJ membership out first, or would I need to sort out a VAT number and basically treat myself as a company?

I reall don't know how these things work and would appreciate some pointers,

Many thanks

bravo

Worked in same position for a no. of years.
Revenue don't care what you do as regards a business, but they have limits (thinks its about €25,000 for services, could be wrong) whereby if your turnover is below this you are not liable for (or to charge) VAT. I don't think you can charge VAT on your work.
But on your PC - if you lease it, you can claim the leasing charges, you can claim tax relief on expenses - travel, stationary, overheads.
This has been my experience anyway...never even considered VAT

antoinolachtnai

Why couldn't you charge VAT on your work?

bravo

I was below the VAT threshold..in turnover terms.
I think journalism is regarded as a service industry rather than product, so the lower Vat rate would probably apply, if you were registered.

antoinolachtnai

Unless perhaps you are writing graffiti on the side of a building, I would think the 21 percent rate would apply.

It doesn't make any difference anyway, because the publisher can offset his VAT expenditure against his VAT receipts when calculating how much to remit.

But you are right, probably not worth registering if you are below the threshold.

flogen

Sorry, still a bit confused on this; bravo, are you saying that a registered journalist could get the VAT refunded or get a lower level of VAT?
And besides perhaps registering with the NUJ do I need to do anything; I assume that and payment invoices is proof enough of the service/trade I'm in?

antoinolachtnai

Flogen, you have to be registered for VAT to claim VAT back. If you are registered for VAT you must also charge customers VAT.

The revenue don't care what trade you're in, providing it's not a VAT-exempt business, such as insurance. The NUJ is basically just a trade association, the same as SIMI or the hotels federation; the revenue don't care about it.

There is a turnover threshold above which you must register for VAT. Below the threshold, registration is optional.

Honestly, it is probably not worth it if the only purpose of registering for VAT is to save a few hundred euros on a capital item.

flogen

antoinolachtnai wrote:

Honestly, it is probably not worth it if the only purpose of registering for VAT is to save a few hundred euros on a capital item.

Thanks for that, it seems like the above is correct!

Worth a try anyway, I think NUJ members get good discounts on macs