VAT Drop on local takeaways - none of them passing it on

veryangryman

Miserable prickazoids

Every one in Athlone, Newbridge, Galway, Dublin (just ones ive checked sofar mind) has not dropped their prices one cent

Put the VAT back pronto! :mad:

Gummy Panda

There was a VAT drop on takeaways?

orourkeda

go on the takeaways

W.Shakes-Beer

Cook them all in a vat of grease.

policarp

They reduced the fat instead. . .

veryangryman

Gummy Panda wrote: »

There was a VAT drop on takeaways?

Yep

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0701/tax-business.html

AnonoBoy

Will this price drop be passed on to the consumer?

Hah! Vat'll be the day!

DaveDaRave

Would you drop your prices if you were running one ?

DrGreenthumb

maybe we should go around and assalt them or batter someone

hatrickpatrick

DaveDaRave wrote: »

Would you drop your prices if you were running one ?

Obviously yes. Same profit on each sale + cheaper than other chippers = more business.

One of the reasons for Ireland's troubles is indeed corruption and fraud.
One of the others is business incompetence.

As angry as you are, as I am myself, about corruption, never overlook the latter either. Complaining about cross border shopping whilst charging 3x the price for the same goods, for instance, is absolutely moronic. Complaining about off licenses when you charge €5 for an effing bottle of Corona is also moronic. Etc.

latenia

You're losing about 8c on a bag of chips...

Samich

takeaway the vat now!!!

Samich

You're right! It's only a cod!!

Gummy Panda

veryangryman wrote: »

Gummy Panda wrote: »

There was a VAT drop on takeaways?

Yep

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0701/tax-business.html

Actually I do remember seeing a sign in McDonalds in the ilac saying something about passing on VAT changes

Chris P. Bacon

Yeah McDonalds have done it.

talla10

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Actually I do remember seeing a sign in McDonalds in the ilac saying something about passing on VAT changes

Chris P. Bacon wrote: »

Yeah McDonalds have done it.

I'm lovin' it.

Mr. Denton

They should pass it on to the department of health.

The Internet Explorer

Sweet, sweet, kebab.

Son Of A Vidic

OP, surely this is no surprise - savings not getting passed on to the customer. This is Ireland after all.

concur4u?

cant see it being done on private take away tbh was/is a very hard bussiness fo the revenune to access ie how many bags of chips do you get from 1 bag of potatoes

veryangryman

concur4u? wrote: »

cant see it being done on private take away tbh was/is a very hard bussiness fo the revenune to access ie how many bags of chips do you get from 1 bag of potatoes

By that logic theyd never serve you a bag of chips cos who knows how many they are putting into it

A bag of chips costs X. With the VAT reduction, the BAG should cost X minus the reducton% - not exactly rocket scence.

Even if it is only 8c, the reducton was made to get customers in. Places should reduce and advertise on their windows the reducton. Small touch that actually does help business through goodwill

Night_Prowler

Its sickening - the whole point of the vat decrease is to reduce the cost to the end consumer. Lower prices encourage people to spend more, this increases demand for these products and services which in turn creates jobs, jobs increase the tax take and reduce the dole numbers etc etc.

The vat reduction is not there so that Mario and Luigi can pocket the benefit. The ecomony is the intended beneficiary !!! Mamma mia!

slavetothegrind

maybe it allows the businesses maintain their current levels of employment a bit longer?

are you really going up the road to save 8c on a 2.20 bag of chips?

just sayin'

costs of running businesses are still very high, fuel still on the rise...

and no, i don't own a chipper.

the groutch

it was intended as a tax reduction to entice tourism, how many tourists are going all the way out to the sticks for a chipper?

ShadowHearth

wasnt there a big VAT drop for restaurants and takeaways? i do remember something about this on radio. i am not surprised they didnt drop price thought lol

danniemcq

http://donegalvatchange.blogspot.com/

started this few weeks back since i done it 2 places that said they would never change the price, changed it.

start one for your local area too!

Suryavarman

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Obviously yes. Same profit on each sale + cheaper than other chippers = more business.

As hard as times are, I very much doubt anyone is going to go out of their way to save a few cent on a bag of chips.

Magic Beans

Opportunism at it's best, if the VAT rate had gone up even half a percent they would have used the excuse to ladle on a price increase.

Just wait until they start charging for the salt and vinegar. :rolleyes:

Gummy Panda

There is a name and shame thread in the ripoff ireland forum - here

manual_man

single and batter sausage please

mick.m

veryangryman wrote: »

Miserable prickazoids

Every one in Athlone, Newbridge, Galway, Dublin (just ones ive checked sofar mind) has not dropped their prices one cent

Am I the only one that thinks that that's a fair amount of chippers to visit in a month and a bit?

Zebra3

Why is the government encouraging people to eat crap?

Gummy Panda

Zebra3 wrote: »

Why is the government encouraging people to eat crap?

The reduction isn;t just for take aways. It was designed to lower prices in hotels, restaurants, etc to boost tourism.

Amirani

slavetothegrind wrote: »

maybe it allows the businesses maintain their current levels of employment a bit longer?

are you really going up the road to save 8c on a 2.20 bag of chips?

just sayin'

costs of running businesses are still very high, fuel still on the rise...

and no, i don't own a chipper.

Fuel is falling at the moment. Just sayin.

veryangryman

mick.m wrote: »

Am I the only one that thinks that that's a fair amount of chippers to visit in a month and a bit?

Walk by the door, see flyers etc in addition to the odd visit but thanks for your concern :rolleyes:

mconigol

Ring them up for a quote. Places usually quote prices ex-vat don't they?

ibarelycare

Hot takeaway food that isn't eaten on the premises is considered "supply of goods" not "supply of service." It's still charged at the service VAT rate though (13.5%) but because it's not a service I don't think the new 9% VAT rate comes into play for them, it's only for premises where there are facilities to sit and eat food. I could be wrong but that's my understanding of it.

stek

I agree with the OP!, You can be sure if it was a VAT increase the cost would have been passed on to the customer.

Aard

ibarelycare wrote: »

Hot takeaway food that isn't eaten on the premises is considered "supply of goods" not "supply of service." It's still charged at the service VAT rate though (13.5%) but because it's not a service I don't think the new 9% VAT rate comes into play for them, it's only for premises where there are facilities to sit and eat food. I could be wrong but that's my understanding of it.

"Eat-in" always has a higher VAT than "to go". You see this in a lot of cafés where the take-away styrofoam cups are bigger than the proper cups in the store. This allows them to charge the same for both, but because they pay a higher tax for the "eat-in" variety, they give you less of it in order to compensate.

I'm not exactly sure how that translates to chippers and takeaways. However, the 13.5% wasn't just a "services" rate -- it was a catch-all "lower" rate (I think officially the EU call it a reduced rate). So while the majority of things covered by it are services, there's nothing precluding goods from being included too.

In fact, here it is from the horses mouth: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/rates/rate-changes-jobs-initiative.html

Supplies of goods and services at the new 9% rate:

• the supply of food and drink (excluding alcohol and soft drinks) in the course of catering or by means of a vending machine (See footnote 1)
• hot take-away food and hot drinks
• hotel lettings, including guesthouses, caravan parks, camping sites etc
• admissions to cinemas, theatres, certain musical performances, museums, art gallery exhibitions
• amusement services of the kind normally supplied in fairgrounds or amusement park services
• the provision of facilities for taking part in sporting activities by a person other than a non-profit making organisation
• printed matter e.g. newspapers, brochures, leaflets, programmes, maps, catalogues, printed music (excluding books)
• hairdressing services (Note: beauty treatments:- for example, facials, massages, nail treatments, tanning or sunbed services etc., remain liable at the 13.5% rate).

Taxi Drivers

It looks like the VAT reduction is not being passed on. See details from today's consumer price index here.

Dave_Kilkenny

For all the people saying VAT on the raw foods... raw foods arent taxed in this industry we can't claim VAT back on the raw freshly cut chips we buy in, or the meat for the burgers.

Secondly, lets say these are the prices for a few items on the menu,

CHIPS : 2.00
SALAD BURGER : 2.30


With the reduction,
1.84
2.12

Prices are now uneven and **** up change.

Also, most chippers are small and aren't going to go print up a whole new large menu (For in the store) stating a tiny saving for the customer, it would cost a chipper about 50euro to get a large new menu done up atleast,

stovelid

veryangryman wrote: »

Every one in Athlone, Newbridge, Galway, Dublin:

They have takeaways in Athlone?

ibarelycare

Dave_Kilkenny wrote: »

For all the people saying VAT on the raw foods... raw foods arent taxed in this industry we can't claim VAT back on the raw freshly cut chips we buy in, or the meat for the burgers.

Secondly, lets say these are the prices for a few items on the menu,

CHIPS : 2.00
SALAD BURGER : 2.30


With the reduction,
1.84
2.12

Prices are now uneven and **** up change.

Also, most chippers are small and aren't going to go print up a whole new large menu (For in the store) stating a tiny saving for the customer, it would cost a chipper about 50euro to get a large new menu done up atleast,

So what if the prices are uneven, it's not fair that businesses are going to be making more of a profit, when this reduction in VAT was brought in mainly to benefit them.

They don't even have to get those big new menus printed up, they could put a big sign saying something along the lines of "Although the prices on the menu are the same, we are passing on the VAT reduction and the difference will be calculated at the till." Simple.

KindOfIrish

Gummy Panda wrote: »

The reduction isn;t just for take aways. It was designed to lower prices in hotels, restaurants, etc to boost tourism.

VAT reduction has never been designed to lower prices. It has been done to reduce tax pressure on businesses and give them opportunity to keep employees or even hire more staff.

veryangryman

KindOfIrish wrote: »

VAT reduction has never been designed to lower prices. It has been done to reduce tax pressure on businesses and give them opportunity to keep employees or even hire more staff.

Which they might be able to do if they pass on the reduction (attracting more paying customers in the doors)

Nah thatd be sensible...sure only the Supermarkets do that and they dont make any money from doing it.

Oh wait...

Aard

Dave_Kilkenny wrote: »

Secondly, lets say these are the prices for a few items on the menu,

CHIPS : 2.00
SALAD BURGER : 2.30


With the reduction,
1.84
2.12

Prices are now uneven and **** up change.

Round it up to €1.85 and €2.15 -- I don't think anybody would be upset. Or even just €1.90 and €2.20 to keep things in even tens.

Also, most chippers are small and aren't going to go print up a whole new large menu (For in the store) stating a tiny saving for the customer, it would cost a chipper about 50euro to get a large new menu done up atleast,

This is something that I've thought about. I imagine a lot of the business affected by the reduction in VAT are small "mom and pop" style shops. As you say, getting a new menu printed could easily cost more than what you'd get back in increased sales. There are little innovations you could implement -- I remember when the VAT on certain restaurant foods in France was reduced a lot of places just put a sticker or similar beside the item, which indicated "this item is reduced" without being specific. Or if it's a chipper, I have often in the past seen them put a sticker over the old price with a new increased price on it. No reason this can't work the other way around.

Actually another thing I've thought of is that if you keep the prices the same, you're effectively increasing your profits by 3.6%. In no time, this extra cash could afford you a new menu and then you can lower your prices!

That may be a little bit facetious, but there's something in there all the same.

Either way, I would encourage at least SOME passing on of a price reduction to the customer. For example, print up a poster (not gonna cost an arm and a leg) that offers a €4.00 meal deal of chips + salad burger. Now you've passed the VAT reduction on to your customer (at least on these two items), while at the same time keeping your old prices intact.

All it takes is a little innovation. The customer loves seeing "deals" and "sales" and "reductions". Even if they don't buy your chips + salad burger and just go for the batter sausage, they'll feel kinder to you for having the option. OTOH as this thread and others show, if you show no innitiative your customers will think you're a scrooge.