I'm not a professional pilot, but I am a business man so.. Fact .. you can claim VAT and not charge for it... e.g If you were to manufacture childrens clothes, you would pay and claim back the vat on the fabrics and threads to make them. But would not charge vat on the finished products as there is no vat on childrens clothes. You would in fact be receiving a cheque from the vat office every three months.
These days there is no real hassle with modern accountancy software. The one I use produces a VAT return on screen. I just copy it into the paper vat return and send them a cheque for the difference between the vat I collect from customers and the vat I claim on goods and services.
Bottom line.. Talk to an accountant on the best move.
Originally Posted by g-mady
PushToShock,
I started a thread on this a couple of months ago - Im in the same situation (PPL(H) 90hrs, and 3 weeks inATPL studies)
I think we came to the conclusion that you cannot reclaim vat unless you are going to charge it later for your buisness. Now be carefull, suppose you set up a buisness with the intent of acting as "self employed" when working for an offshore company but then after a year find another job and no longer charge vat - the tax man might not be happy!
The other consideration we found was that if you reclaim vat at training and therefore have to charge it for employement, it could hurt your chances - the company will just reclaim what you charge them but its just hassel... in a world where chances are slim enough anyway.
I have begun my ATPL training without reclaiming - but hope this could change?
MADY