Vat return on household bills

[marz]

Hello there!

doin up my first Vat return. Have 2 questions. Office is based in the home...

1. Can I claim a percentage of the VAt back on household bills e.g phone, heating, electricity. THe phone has been set up as a business account and would be used for both private and business purposes.
Would it be best to just leave altogether as could get messy? own the house. I know there was talk on other threads about capital gains tax in relation to claiming percenatge as business expense.

2. When calculating the Vat charged on sales invoices. Am I considering all invoices issued within the 2 months, regardless if we have received payment?

I just want to calculate the Vat correctly, am not out to claim every penny if it is goin to go against me in the future.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. If you need anymore info, just let me know.

Regards,

Marz

 

[billythefish]

Hi Marz

1) In terms of light and heat, I would claim back whatever proportion of my home is dedicated to an office. You could do a rough calculation based on sq footage for that.

In relation to phone, you could sit down with the phone bill and mark which calls were business and which were personal. If that doesn't appeal to you then just use a fair apportionment that reflect the business use of the phone.

2) This depends on the basis for which you are registered for Vat. This should be shown on the Vat registration certificate sent to you by Revenue when they registered you. If you are on an "invoice basis" then you will pay over Vat on all invoices issued, regardless of payments received. If you are on a "cash receipts basis" then you will account for Vat on monies received.

There are conditions to satisfy to qualify if you wish to account for Vat on sales under the cash receipts basis. See http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/charging/index.html#_Cash_Basis1 for more info.