Funnily enough I do not play golf.
However my client is a club pro who uses bespoke software to record his business transactions.
As part of his day he collects green fees from golfers (this is the money they pay to walk on the very short patch of grass at the end of the long field).
Each week he hands the green fees to the club who use the money to cut the short grass again.
I believe this is an Agency agreement and as such is outside the scope of VAT. But the software system is standard rating the green fees, so i suspect that this is incorrect.
My client is paying over output tax on green fees and then handing the gross to the club. This might be good golfing etiquette but not good for business?
Any advice from small ball fanatics would be appreciated!
Replies (3)
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Golf Green Fees
As far as I can see, the golf pro is merely collecting money on behalf of the golf club. There is no VAT implication as far as the golf pro is concerned and he should not be paying output VAT on it. He is not charging the golfers the fees, the club is.
Green fees
I also do not play golf, but my understanding is that supplies of sporting facilities are generally standard rated, but any green fees charged by members' clubs to their members would be exempt, while green fees charged to members' guests (even if paid by the member), temporary (less than 3 months) members and visitors (even if from other members' clubs) remain standard rated. Have a look at section 3.4 of VAT Notice 701/45 on Sport http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.por...
I agree that the club pro in this case is just collecting the fees on behalf of the club and should not be accounting for VAT on them.
load of (golf) balls...
This is the standard arrangement at most clubs. Visitors invariably go into the pros shop to pay their green fees and hopefully from his point of view buy a few things as well before teeing off. The pro merely collects money for the club and remits it to them. The fees are standard rated for the club that pays the VAT. Sounds like he's entering this income in the wrong slot in the software...should not be posted to a P&L code but to a "green fee control" that balances with any commission he may charge and what he pays over to the club.