Plumbing vat rate

sohappy

Had a great job done by a plumber and just wondered after the guy left if the vat rate should have been 23% or 13.5%
thought there was a two thirds rule when charging for materials and labour? im just curious, heres the breakdown

shower door 138.21
labour 130.00
vat 23% 61.69

Total 329.90

drunkmonkey

Your correct, it should be 13.5

exaisle

I think you're correct.
He's charged you 23% VAT and should have charged you 13.5%.
The cost of the materials is less than 2/3rds of the total cost.

Sleeper12

vat should have been 13.5 percent. 36.21 vat. total Inc vat should have been 304.42

sohappy

Thanks for the replies, I guess he just made a mistake,

Dtp1979

sohappy wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I guess he just made a mistake,

It's unusual to be honest. Nearly always a plumber charges 13.5.

Can I resurrect this thread with a related query?

I got a new bathroom and chose sink/toilet from a brochure with the plumber. He sourced them on the basis that I pay at the end. Now it's payment time.

He totted up all the labour plus the materials based on the brochure prices and added 13.5% VAT. Is that right? I would have thought the VAT was baked into the RRP at 23% and that, if anything, I'd actually save a little bit by buying through him.

In any case, am I right to ask him whether he has charged me VAT twice? I doubt he's pulling a fast one as he's a local guy who has been around a long time. The amount at stake is not huge so wouldn't be worth trying to scam his neighbour. But I think he has made a mistake.

Sleeper12

It's very hard to say without seeing the brochure. Some quote inc vat & some quote ex vat. It wouldn't be unusual for him to get a discount on the brochure price but this doesn't have to be passed on to the homeowner. It's not unusual for him to make a small profit on the materials
However if the brochure price was including vat it would be illegal for him to charge the extra 13.5% & call it VAT. He can charge it & call it profit but not VAT. If the brochure price was ex vat then he doesn't seem to have done anything wrong.

Dtp1979

If the materials were 1,000 incl vat, and say labour was 500,
Then he'd remove the 23 percent from the materials, add the 500 to the new price then add 13.5

Sleeper12

Sleeper12 wrote: »

It's very hard to say without seeing the brochure. Some quote inc vat & some quote ex vat. It wouldn't be unusual for him to get a discount on the brochure price but this doesn't have to be passed on to the homeowner. It's not unusual for him to make a small profit on the materials
However if the brochure price was including vat it would be illegal for him to charge the extra 13.5% & call it VAT. He can charge it & call it profit but not VAT. If the brochure price was ex vat then he doesn't seem to have done anything wrong.

Thanks. For one of the items we went to a shop - mentioned he had sent us - and got a price for something. Then told the plumber who picked it up. I'm sure he got a trade discount for referring us and I don't mind him having a margin to cover himself and the time it took to collect/deliver.

But I feel like we'd have been better advised to just load the thing into the boot when we were there - thus escaping this additional VAT.

Really not sure where to go with this as I don't want to fall out with the guy and he has 'assured' me that it's all proper and above board. Yet I still feel like VAT was charged at 23% and then again at 13.5%.

His argument was that he had to pay the brochure price, in some cases with a small discount, but he was paying the 23% VAT - which he says he can't claim back. That money is gone as far as he is concerned. Then his is obliged to charge VAT on his invoice which includes all goods and services.

I mean, I've a small business and when I buy paper for the printer I claim back the VAT. Is this not similar?

Sleeper12

Really not sure where to go with this as I don't want to fall out with the guy and he has 'assured' me that it's all proper and above board. Yet I still feel like VAT was charged at 23% and then again at 13.5%.

It is illegal to charge vat twice for the same product.


His argument was that he had to pay the brochure price, in some cases with a small discount, but he was paying the 23% VAT - which he says he can't claim back. That money is gone as far as he is concerned. Then his is obliged to charge VAT on his invoice which includes all goods and services.

Of course he was able to claim the 23% vat back. Thats what he's supposed to do, then he charges 13.5% on the whole job. He's either a a cowboy con man or he doesn't understand the vat system at all.

I think you can go to a citizen advise desk about this. I've no doubt he made a small profit on the goods & I don't fault him there at all but charging you the vat twice is illegal. If it was me I'd say youve a friend in the revenue that has offered to have a look at it for you. You'll find out very quickly if he does know what hes doing is wrong or not.

I'm a plumber myself & I hate people like this giving us all a bad name