Online purchases under the CTW Scheme

solid 5

Hi all,

I am looking to purchase under this scheme, work have recently brought it in. They are doing it with the Raleigh2work guys.

They have a list of bricks and mortar stores on their site. When I asked them can I buy online they said yes and sent me a link to the eurocycles.ie site (effectively a Raleigh site!!) but did not say whether other online sites are eligible to participate in the scheme. Not happy with their ambiguity around this question and the fact that its conveniently linked to a a site that has a lot of Raleigh kit.

Any feedback out there or actual experiences of buying online using chainreactions / wiggle / other online retailers as part of the CTW scheme?

Is it allowed and what is the actual process with the Raleight2work guys if you do use another online etailer?

Thanks all - apologies if its been covered before. I could not find any detail on this question

Lumen

Yes it has been covered before, sort of.

The scheme does not (as far as the Revenue is concerned) restrict you at all, although buying from the UK brings VAT complications (see here).

Your employer may, for laziness (sorry, efficiency) reasons choose to use a single supplier, either a shop or a middleman. The latter makes money presumably by negotiating discounts on the supply side and then not passing them on. They figure that you will be so pleased with the Revenue letting you keep your own money that you won't notice that you've spent €1000 on a bike you could probably buy for €700 online.

Down with middlemen, disintermediation FTW, burn them all etc.

Can you say middlepeople?

penexpers

Lumen has it almost right - the middlemen make money by charging 5-10% commission to the bike shop.

cdaly_

I was told by one LBS that the middlebrokers (that do Lumen?) take 8% to 10% as commission. Serious money for feck all work I would have said...

My work required an Irish Tax Clearance Cert from the supplier before they would pay. UK companies can get Irish TCCs but the process takes some time and probably won't affect you.

Raam

I bought online from the UK with the scheme. No VAT issues that I'm aware of.

Chips Lovell

While the scheme allows for the purchase of the bike and equipment from anywhere, including online from abroad, employers are free to just do it through a middleman if they want.

In your case, your employer has decided to use Raleigh2work, which is owned by Eurotrek Raleigh Ireland, a bike distributor. You'll only be allowed by from the list of shops on their site.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

I bought online from the UK with the scheme. No VAT issues that I'm aware of.

If the UK retailer will not charge Irish VAT, then the purchase should be made free of UK VAT (which can be a hassle with online purchasing) then the employer pays Irish VAT to the Revenue. This complicates the pricing, and can push a sub-€1000 bike over the limit.

If the UK retailer charges UK VAT then the Irish VAT will still have to be paid and you end up double-taxed.

Alternatively, if the UK supplier charges Irish VAT (like Wiggle does) then it's the same as a purchase from an Irish shop, i.e. very simple.

Whether employers bother to account for all this correctly is another issue.

Beasty is better at this stuff than me, I'm easily confused.

solid 5

Thank you guys - all feedback much appreciated

cdaly_

Lumen wrote: »

can push a sub-€1000 bike over the limit.

That bit doesn't really matter. You still get tax relief on the €1000 but have to make up the rest yourself.

Lumen

cdaly_ wrote: »

That bit doesn't really matter. You still get tax relief on the €1000 but have to make up the rest yourself.

It does matter if your employer limits the purchase to €1000 for administrative reasons (i.e. isn't offering salary sacrifice).

Of course you can in theory split-pay for the bike at time of purchase, but that'll make the invoices complicated and requires co-operation from the vendor.

Based on my own experience, a lot of UK-based web retail operations would not respond favourably to being asked to split the payment across two different credit cards, produce an invoice only for the first €1000 (at what exchange rate?) and then either suppress UK VAT or apply Irish VAT instead. Far too complicated.

poolboy

Hi am currently waiting for delivery of bike bought under ctw scheme online from england. The process was the bike company sent me an invoice in euro less vat i submitted it along with application form to HR who then applied the irish vat, this added vat brought the total over the 1000e limit and i had to pay the difference of 60e back to HR. They settle the vat bill and i pay back the 1000e over the year by salary deduction. Not sure if this is clear or helpful but...............
P.S the company is planet x and im one of those public sector leeches

Lumen

poolboy wrote: »

P.S the company is planet x and im one of those public sector leeches

Yes, Planet-X did the same for me. Good to hear a positive public sector CTW story

lukester

Too lazy to search previous posts on this.

In theory could you use the €1000 to cover say a €2k frameset, and pay the difference yourself?

Raam

lukester wrote: »

Too lazy to search previous posts on this.

In theory could you use the €1000 to cover say a €2k frameset, and pay the difference yourself?

You can pay whatever you want, I did, but it must be on a complete bike, not just a frameset.

Beasty

Lumen wrote: »

Beasty is better at this stuff than me, I'm easily confused.

Correct...

...I am better, and you are easily confused ....


... but not in this case though:)

sorry I couldn't respond earlier, but I was busy watching the "boys" get to Wembley (again)

Beasty

lukester wrote: »

Too lazy to search previous posts on this.

In theory could you use the €1000 to cover say a €2k frameset, and pay the difference yourself?

As Raam says, complete bikes (or specified safety equipment) only can be purchased under the scheme

You can go over the €1k limit only if your particular employer allows it (they buy the bike initially, remember).

lukester

Beasty wrote: »

As Raam says, complete bikes (or specified safety equipment) only can be purchased under the scheme

You can go over the €1k limit only if your particular employer allows it (they buy the bike initially, remember).

Why would they not allow it? They'll be getting any excess back anyway.

Beasty

lukester wrote: »

Why would they not allow it? They'll be getting any excess back anyway.

Just saying it's up to them - some are more rigid with their rules than others