I am self employed and have my unique tax ref number. Can i raise an invoice with VAT displayed on it?
You are obviously not VAT registered so you must NOT display VAT on invoices you give to your customers. In order to avoid confusion for them it will be better if you display NET and TOTAL. When you re-do the invoice you must not include any VAT in your figure. If you were VAT registered you would not keep the VAT amount you would have to send it to the VAT office. The main advantage of being VAT registered is that you can claim back from the VAT office any amounts of VAT that you spend on your purchases. So it depends what your purchases are and how much VAT you will be able to reclaim. The disadvantages will be that you will have to do regular VAT returns and face fines if you are late. You will HAVE to charge VAT (this means your total costs to your customers will be higher) and pass the VAT amount to the VAT office. Also you have to get it right – on some things you must NOT charge VAT and it has to be right. Also the VAT you claim back must be correct. You can register for VAT if
