Re: FN-FORUM: VAT on books

date posted 23rd January 2007 19:12

On Tuesday 23 Jan 2007 5:33 pm, webmetric wrote:
> Anyone care to take a look at this, I just want to be 100% sure I've go=
t it
> right in my head. Its to do with calculating vat on "baskets" that=92s
> include things like books (vat exempt) books with cd roms( partial vat)=
and
> cd roms (full vat)

Fun fun fun. NB you should get your *customer* to check with Gordon's Bo=
ys!
It's their business and their liability.

However I'd done exactly this recently so may be able to help. I did a
websales microsite for a software company and then they started selling
books and book / product bundles.

I am not a tax lawyer; you really should check with C&E. They are really
quite helpful if you are trying to do things properly.

> Vat is due if
> =09The BILLING country is not vat exempt (billing address may be
> different to delivery address)

We do not accept a delivery address in a different country. Are you sure=
=20
you want to? However if you do, then I suspect that it's the delivery co=
untry
that is going to count for VAT purposes. Check with C&E. (In fact, they=
may
well want VAT charged if *either* country is VATable!). Otherwise people
would use a US credit card to get stuff delivered to the UK. And so on.

In my code, VAT is due:
if (country =3D=3D UK ) OR (country =3D=3DEU AND $vatnumber =3D=3D '')

That is to say, if your customer is a VAT-registered business in the EU
then you should NOT charge VAT and they should pay VAT at their
local rate to their own government. (They do this themselves). But=20
they must give you a valid (for their country) VAT number.

You can check if the supplied VAT number is valid at:
www.europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/vies/cgi-bin/viesquer/

> Finally the delivery charge is always vat applicable if the country is =
vat
> applicable. So even if the product is vat exempt but the BILLING count=
ry
> is not, then VAT is still charged on that.

We were advised that VAT is only chargeable on delivery of VATable produc=
ts.
I believe we could have charged VAT pro-rata on the delivery but in the e=
nd
decided to charge VAT on the entire delivery charge if any component was=20
VATable. (I think the difference would have been a few pounds on a total
order of a few hundred pounds, as most of the value was in the software,
not the books).


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