Vat Registration Date Error

Vat Registration Date Error

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Hi,

I made a voluntary online VAT registration 2 weeks ago on 1st May 2014, and put Effective date of VAT registration as 1st April 2014 mistakenly, I wanted to put the date as 1st April 2011 as I am an IT contractor and  my agency is willing to pay the previous VAT for last 3 years. If I write to HMRC about this mistake will they amend the date or it’s not possible now.

Replies (16)

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chips_at_mattersey
By Les Howard
17th May 2014 09:45

incorrect registration date

Write to HMRC asap, and explain the reason for the belated notification, as well and the error. Argue for mitigation of any penalty.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
17th May 2014 10:01

No penalty

There's no penalty for a voluntary registration.

You've not infringed any regulations.

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Replying to andy.partridge:
chips_at_mattersey
By Les Howard
17th May 2014 10:39

You are right

lionofludesch wrote:

There's no penalty for a voluntary registration.

You've not infringed any regulations.

Sorry, you are right, of course.

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By JessicaRain
17th May 2014 11:54

@lionfludesch.. Not Quite

There will be if VAT had been charged without registration.. This was the case with an acquaintance (an IT contractor) who charged VAT over a 2-year period because the agency advised her to do so but never declared the VAT as she 'forgot' to register!

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RLI
By lionofludesch
17th May 2014 12:00

Not so

Completely different offence.

Nothing to do with the voluntary registration.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
17th May 2014 12:03

Flat Rate

Incidentally, the Flat Rate Scheme may well be worth looking at for the OP.  Much easier and quite possibly financially more rewarding that the traditional method.

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By Sunil0300
17th May 2014 13:49

Thanks for the reply, I will write to them hope they ammend the date.

Also, I am planning to register for Flat rate scheme from 1st May 2014 which is my date of VAT application, My question is Can I backdate the registration of Flat rate scheme also with the same date of my Effective VAT date ( April 1 2011) and if it is of any benefit ?

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By Minnie136
17th May 2014 14:11

Call them

I managed to backdate a VAT registration, I just called up the helpline and was put through to the Registration dept and they did it over the phone.  You will need to be quick though since they normally process applications within a few weeks and the date cannot normally be changed once registered. 

Please can you provide a few more details on why you want to do this and why the agent would bear the cost.  If you are looking at the flat rate scheme then you obviously have not suffered much input VAT.  Have you actually exceeded the threshold so the registration is not voluntary?

Have you taken profession advice?  I assume you have an accountant.

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By Sunil0300
17th May 2014 17:19

Hello,

I applied online and got the reply in about 4 days that my application is successful and Effective date of VAT registration is April 1 2014 along with my VAT number, I haven't recieved the certificate yet. This is the date  which i opted (by mistake) at the time of registration.

 

Now I wanted to backdate my registration date to April 1 2011, If that is possible to do by HMRC. all these years my turnover was less than 50K so the registration is voluntary,

Another question was if HMRC does change my registration date 3 years back can I also apply for flat rate scheme from the same date and benefit from it ?

 

 

 

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By Minnie136
17th May 2014 18:18

But why?

Why would your agent bear the cost of 14.5% VAT which you have not charged clients, total £21,750, for no reason whatsoever?  Please explain what you see to be the benefit of voluntary registration.  I think it is quite fortunate that you did not register from 3 years ago.  If the VAT number has been issued then I don't think you can change the date of registration.

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Replying to Steven Bone:
RLI
By lionofludesch
18th May 2014 10:17

Opening Post

Minnie136 wrote:

Why would your agent bear the cost of 14.5% VAT which you have not charged clients, total £21,750, for no reason whatsoever?  Please explain what you see to be the benefit of voluntary registration.  I think it is quite fortunate that you did not register from 3 years ago.

As he said in the OP, his customer is willing to pay the extra VAT as they can reclaim it.

I've never had to change the date of registration - happily having never made that mistake - but I would hope that HMRC would accept the correction of an error if brought to their attention promptly.

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By Sunil0300
17th May 2014 21:20

Hi Minnie, Thanks for your reply and explanation, please find below my explanation and please correct me if I am wrong,

I am an IT contractor and work for a single recruitment agency who pays me a daily rate through weekly invoicing (self generated by agency) for the work I do since April 2011 when I registered my own company. This payment is without VAT as I was not registered for VAT at that time because I do not come under VAT Threshold as Yearly Turnover is roughly 40K. The agency pays the VAT to those who are VAT registered

May 1st 2014 I decided to register for VAT with the date mentioned in my previous post. The simple reason was if I claim back the VAT from my agency for the past 3 Years it will be 24000. From Flat Rate scheme (14.5 for IT )I may able to save £3100 and pay back the remaining 21000 to HMRC as last 3 year VAT.

1) Please Advise what I have written above is possible or not,

2) If its not possible than no point for me to get the date changed if its possible please advise what should I do,

Regards
Sunil

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By Sunil0300
18th May 2014 13:40

Thanks for your reply as well as the previous one in which you mentioned me to check the Flat rate Scheme.

Could you or any senior please advise if my last post is practical and possible in accounting terms (registering for Flat rate Scheme from April 2011 provided HMRC change my Effective VAT Date) so I can go ahead and write to HMRC tomorrow about the date change. If that is not possible  than I may keep the original VAT date April 2014.

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By Sunil0300
18th May 2014 21:50

Thanks Basil

Thank you so much Basil for the detailed explanation, Your post is really very helpful. God Bless you.

I will go back to my agency first and will re-confirm with them (in writing) if they are willing to pay back the VAT for the last 3 years , because if they back off like you mentioned in your point, I may find my self in a very unusual situation.

Once I got confirmation from the agency, I will call HMRC to get the date amended if possible or request them to cancel the registration (hope they do this on phone). 

My accounts are taken care by our family friend who submits the returns etc. on time. but haven't mentioned about the benefit of VAT registration though FRS. (may be because I don't come under the VAT threshold and also I never asked about it) until last month, when I did my own research on VAT registration and found out that I may save around 1000 - 1200 per year through FRS.

Once again thanks a million for your advise, I will keep you posted on the progress.

 

Regards

Sunil

 

 

 

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RLI
By lionofludesch
19th May 2014 11:17

Common Error

It is indeed a common error to forget that Flat Rate percentages are applied to the VAT inclusive invoices issued.

In effect, you should be comparing the 14½% flat rate - not with 20% - but the VAT fraction of 16.6667%

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By Sunil0300
20th May 2014 15:08

Update

Good Afternoon,

I called HMRC today to get the date changed, but they said I need to write  or Fax the Effective Date of registration (EDR) Team, I am not sure if they will change the date ( as I have gone through lot of post on this forum) where they do not change the dates. (Not sure in my case where its a 3 weeks old voluntary registration that needs to be backdated for 3 years where the turnover was under the vat threshold in all 3 years )

Should I Fax them and wait for the reply/rejection or Should I cancel the VAT registration and re-apply with April 1 2011 as new Effective VAT registration date (if that is possible to do after cancelling the previos registration and re-apply with a new effective date) ?

 

Regards

Sunil

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