Sandwich van - to register for VAT or not?

anniem

I think it says it all in the title.

One of my trustworthy clients has decided to buy his wife a sandwich van! I realise that the risk of this is the 'nod nod wink wink cash sales' side of the business, but they have always been very diligent in the way they have dealt with things in the past, so I have no reason to think they would be dishonest in that way (Monsoon I read your post on this somewhere whilst researching this one!)

Need to decide whether they should register for VAT or not, but I've read some articles and have ended up having a mind block.

Complication: Sales - Sandwiches - zero rated, I'm not sure if she'll be making/preparing/selling any hot food which would then attract VAT. So if she did register she would need to accurately record hot and cold food/drinks separately (time consuming perhaps?)

Main reason for thinking it would be advantageous for her to register for VAT is simply the price of running her vehicle; fuel in particular.

Would welcome your thoughts/experiences.

T.C.

Don't forget the extra cost of preparing the VAT Returns. Make sure it is a viable thing to do.

coojee

What about crisps, drinks, choc bars etc, won't they have VAT on them to add to the complication of keeping records?

Newbie

If you talking of voluntary registration I would say no, best to wait until they reach the 77k and then put in a compulsory registration, you can go back 4 years anyway on tangibles on hand at the date of reg and services 6 months

Bluewednesday

Newbie wrote: »

If you talking of voluntary registration I would say no, best to wait until they reach the 77k

I agree, she is likely to be selling to people who can't recover the VAT so there is no advantage to being registered.