Gervan,
Thanks for that. But, I'm still confused.
The link you quote above is headed: "Photography, Photographer's Services", but it then goes on to talk about "supplying goods". Moreover, it says that the goods are rated 13.5% unless they're digital, when they're 21.5%. Fair enough, but what if I supply a mix of the two?
It seems to me that the guidelines are constructed with over-the-counter services and cost-per-unit type goods in mind. It's very easy to understand that if I go to a one-hour-photo shop with a DVD of holiday pics for printing that I am charged 13.5% per print. Equally, if I go with a pile of old family photos that I want scanned and delivered to me on DVD, I must pay 21.5% on the digital images on the DVD. But, over the counter services are billed on a per unit (per print, per scan etc...) basis, not time plus materials.
In my work, at least 95% of any invoice is time.
One final point.......someone said to me that issues of 'composite supply' and 'multiple supply' may apply here.
Apparently, composite supply is made up of a principal supply and an auxiliary supply, where the auxiliary supply would not realistically be sold on their own. (In my case, for example, the DVDs of the images would not be sold separately from the time/service that created them.) The rate of VAT applicable is the rate applicable to the principal supply.
Now, if it could be established that VAT on the principal supply, *commissioned photographic services*, was *clearly* 13.5%, regardless of the form of delivery of the images, then I wouldn't have a problem, since my time vastly outweighs my costs, as I wrote above.
I'm no tax expert (obviously!!) but to my reading this Revenue guideline is vague and ambiguous, to put it mildly.
D.
Ps. I forgot to mention the issue of 'multiple supply'. A multiple supply is where each individual constituent is physically and economically dissociable from the other. e.g. a newspaper with a free DVD. Where the cost to the supplier does not exceed €1, the supplier can disregard the relevant individual supply for the purpose of applying the relevant VAT rate. My understanding of this is that: a. Since DVDs cost only cents, I could charge 13.5% on the balance (i.e. my time) or b. If I gave the client the DVD for free, I could also charge 13.5% on my time. But, only if it was clear that VAT on the *service* or *time* that a photographer provides was 13.5% and, to my reading of the document, it isn't clear what it is because they seem to be obsessed with how you deliver the product rather than what you do for the client.
Pps. Just found this link............
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/leaflets/mixed-supplies-goods-services.html
Under 'General 2.' is written........
"However, in relation to certain categories of supplies referred to as
composite supplies, the new legislation provides that VAT will be chargeable at the rate applicable to the principal element in the supply."
Photography as a service has always been rated 13.5% (in the film era, even though I paid 21.5% on the purchase of materials, I charged 13.5% on the entire bill) and I've read nothing to the contrary. So, based on the above, I assume that I can continue to rate the entire at 13.5% since the materials (a couple of 50 cents blank DVDs in my case) are a fraction of the overall cost.
At the same time, someone who is not charging time plus materials (e.g. a digital scanning lab) but per item (digital files, in their case), should charge 21.5%.