Self Employed Traders - V.A.T

[Cardano]

Thanks for all the replies to my previous quuestion on being a Self-Employed Sports Trader, much appreciated.

Another question I have is related to V.A.T.
If I was to set myself up as a Limited Company trading Horse Racing/Soccer would I be able to claim VAT back for related expenses e.g football match tickets/Horse Racing tickets etc ?

[firlandsfarm]

whether you are a limited company or a self employed sole proprietor makes hardly any difference to what you can claim as an expense against profits but why would you want to if the profits under current tax law and practice are tax free? If you act within a limited company you are increasing the chance of HMRC assuming you are conducting a trade and want to tax you. There is a general assumption a limited company is a trading enterprise.

[jimibt]

whether you are a limited company or a self employed sole proprietor makes hardly any difference to what you can claim as an expense against profits but why would you want to if the profits under current tax law and practice are tax free? If you act within a limited company you are increasing the chance of HMRC assuming you are conducting a trade and want to tax you. There is a general assumption a limited company is a trading enterprise.

my thinking was identical to this and wondered why you'd flag yourself up as a *person of interest* in this way.

let sleeping dogs lay!!

[Euler]

You can't start a business purely for the purposes of claiming back VAT. It has to be a trading entity of some sort so a null question.

[jimibt]

You can't start a business purely for the purposes of claiming back VAT. It has to be a trading entity of some sort so a null question.

maybe this question should be erased, in case HMRC are doing a trawl and get interested in the grey area of trading!!

[Dallas]

Maybe slightly off topic but I remember years ago when setting up my mobile phone business I had a right carry on with VAT

Basically due to the nature of the business and at the time what was known as 'Carousel fraud' all mobile phone companies had to register for VAT (even before they started trading or get anywhere near the compulsory VAT registration threshold).

But, as part of the application process, the VAT office had to see proof you were a legitimate business with agreements in place from mobile Networks and distribution companies etc

However, none of the mobile networks or distribution companies would open up accounts (some wouldn't even speak to you or take an application) unless you were VAT registered

Go figure the sense behind any of it but needless to say it was a long drawn out process resulting in visits from VAT inspectors to check the business was legit before they finally relented and gave me a VAT certificate

and all that's before all the extra attention it brings and the hoops you have to jump through thereafter like getting your returns in etc every 3minths so in short if you can avoid any entanglement with VAT until it becomes absolutely nessecery then do so

[iambic_pentameter]

OP

I'd suggest that in the first instance, you focus on becoming a profitable trader before you worry about this other stuff.

Iambic

[BetScalper]

You don’t need to pay tax. So leave it there. If you also want to doa VAT scam then good luck. It won’t matter if your liable for tax or not HMRC will open a close financial inspection on you which will cripple you financially (I know).

So, leave things well alone and enjoy your tax free millionaire status.