Market Stall Till Roll

T.C.
T.C. Registered, Tutor Posts: 1,448 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
in General accounting discussion
I have a client who runs a very successful market stall, is VAT registered, but does not use a conventional cash register and therefore does not have a "till roll". Any idea what the VAT man's views would be on this one?

Comments

  • BIG WAL
    BIG WAL Registered Posts: 133 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    If goods sold are mainly Standard Rated, recording of individual sales is pretty well mandatory. This can be manual or electronic, but a till roll will usually be the most convenient.

    Tills are today inexpensive, so usually there is no reason why they cannot be used. Most markets do seem to have electricity available these days.

    Unless the trade is mainly Zero rated, a very dim view will be taken if a suitable record is not available. Retailing, being a cash based business, is considered a high risk for tax evasion, so any possibility of sales not being fully recorded is viewed with great suspicion.

    In my experience, where mainly standard rated goods are sold, VAT inspectors will almost automatically ask to see till rolls, unless there is another suitable method of recording individual sales.
  • DaveP
    DaveP Registered Posts: 79 Regular contributor ⭐
    As a frequenter of markets I see very few stallholders using a till!

    Most record daily takings manually.
  • NeilH
    NeilH Registered Posts: 553 Epic contributor 🐘
    Hi

    Where I work we have a couple of lunch vans call that sell various food items. One of them uses a device not much larger than a credit card machine that they enter each sale into which is then record on a roll (and presumably electronically). Perhaps you could suggest something like this?

    Neil
  • sheelagh
    sheelagh Registered Posts: 133 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Gadget

    Don't they call than an adding machine?
    :001_smile:
  • DaveP
    DaveP Registered Posts: 79 Regular contributor ⭐
    You're showing your age now Sheelagh!

    Do you still use one and staple it to the back of your cashbook?

    ;)
  • farmergiles
    farmergiles Registered Posts: 1,693 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
    Doesn't everyone????LOL
  • AdamR
    AdamR Registered Posts: 668 Epic contributor 🐘
    There's nothing wrong with adding machines - I'd be lost without mine even though I'm just as comfortable using the computer numpad. Bought it on eBay from a seller in Germany for cost (inc P&P) of around 30euros and the only problem I have is convincing the boss to buy new till rolls and ink belt as I'm the only person in the office who possesses such a fantastic piece of kit!:001_tt2:

    And before we mention age, I'm 19:laugh:
  • T.C.
    T.C. Registered, Tutor Posts: 1,448 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
    Wow, that did stir alot of response. Thank you. I think I will advise him to keep better cash records. At the moment he just manually adds up the cash and writes it on a piece of paper! Oh and yes, all his sales are zero rated.
  • NeilH
    NeilH Registered Posts: 553 Epic contributor 🐘
    sheelagh wrote: »
    Don't they call than an adding machine?
    :001_smile:

    I guess they could!:001_tt2:

    Its a bit more sophisticated than that though, its set up to operate like a till and produce a receipt like record rather than just a printed list. Also, i belive it stores the details electronically.

    Neil
  • sheelagh
    sheelagh Registered Posts: 133 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Adding machine

    When I started my first job in a bank aged 16, we weren't allowed to used adding machines for most "castings". we had to do it all in our heads! And yes, I was there when they installed the first "computers".
    Sorry, now I'm getting all nostalgic so I'll have to keep going.
    These "computers" were what they called VDUs (visual display units) which were linked by telephone lines to mainframe computers the size of 3 houses based in strategic positions across the UK.
    Anyway, back to the point - I do miss my adding machine and I sometimes use a blank excel spreadsheet instead, then I can check I've punched the numbers in correctly.
    Sorry, must go - time for my Horlicks!!
  • Poodle
    Poodle Registered Posts: 711 Epic contributor 🐘
    TC

    I use the basic VAT retail schemes for one of my clients that has exactly the same problem. But they have a mix of zero and standard rated.

    You should have a read of this

    http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/account-retail.htm

    The minimum your client needs to keep is a daily cash book showing the gross takings for the day. What my client does is have the usual market bag to collect his takings in and then at the end of the day take off the float and what is left is his takings for the day and it is that figure that he writes in his cash book. HMR&C do recognise that in some situatons it is impossible to record each individual sale and this is accepted as a form of record keeping.

    If he was to take the time to write down all of his sales in a book as he went then he would lose customers and revenue and also have stock nicked if he did not keep an eye on it!

    Obviously he has to keep a note of the coffee and burgers that he buys and add this back

    Poodle

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