Paying a 3rd party company but having to cover the VAT

Cianos

Hi there,
I'm wondering what the best way to go about this is.

A client of mine is interested in me designing business cards for them and is looking for a price. I want to provide a fully rounded service and look after the design, printing and delivery to minimise the hassle for my customer.

I've gotten trade prices off a printing company which allows me better potential for profit.

I'm as of yet under the threshold for having to be registered for VAT and my accountant advised me to stay unregistered. The printing company are registered though.

So in order to get them to do the business cards, I'd have to pay them which would include the VAT obviously. To make it economical for me I'd have to pass this charge to my client but of course that will make me less competitive.

I had wanted to keep the whole process as streamlined as possible from the clients point of view rather than having to ask them to send payment to the me AND the printing company.

Is there any way around this? Any help would be really appreciated

Bullseye1

Cianos wrote: »

Hi there,
I'm wondering what the best way to go about this is.

A client of mine is interested in me designing business cards for them and is looking for a price. I want to provide a fully rounded service and look after the design, printing and delivery to minimise the hassle for my customer.

I've gotten trade prices off a printing company which allows me better potential for profit.

I'm as of yet under the threshold for having to be registered for VAT and my accountant advised me to stay unregistered. The printing company are registered though.

So in order to get them to do the business cards, I'd have to pay them which would include the VAT obviously. To make it economical for me I'd have to pass this charge to my client but of course that will make me less competitive.

I had wanted to keep the whole process as streamlined as possible from the clients point of view rather than having to ask them to send payment to the me AND the printing company.

Is there any way around this? Any help would be really appreciated

What is the VAT threshold?

Bullseye1

Nevermind found it here:
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/registration/index.html

Cianos

Yeah I'm definitely below the threshold anyway, but I'm more talking about the VAT issue here and how I should go about handling it in my pricing etc.

Any input would be really great

nompere

Why did your accountant advise you not to register? VAT compliance isn't difficult, and it overcomes the problem you have. You will get back the VAT on the accountant's bills as well!

Toblerone1978

nompere wrote: »

Why did your accountant advise you not to register? VAT compliance isn't difficult, and it overcomes the problem you have. You will get back the VAT on the accountant's bills as well!

I would agree with nompere here. It's only worthwhile not registered for VAT if most of your clients/customers aren't registered for VAT themselves - by the sound of your business, I would have thought they would be.

Anyway, to answer your question, unless you register for VAT you must take a hit on the VAT cost (or pass it on to your customer).