Ways to avoid private school fee VAT

[tiantian1005]

Hi, not looking for a political debate but has this been discussed on how this can be avoided or recovered as in i am sure there is a workaround. Can we pay the school fee via a limited company then claim back VAT or at least claim as expense or can we do this via a trust fund/

The request was not to be political, a) if you send your child to private school you still pay for state school and don’t take any benefit. b) where do you think ex private school kids are going to sit? In an already bursting classroom in the state school ( consuming all the services they currently don’t)

Just hoping all these parent posters can put their passion into working with their new state schools for the improvement they think is needed.

Looking forward to the new thread detailing this already.

I am a Governor at my local State school - does that count?

A

I work in state schools- teachers are doing the best they can. Do you not think current state school parents are passionate enough that you need ex private school parents to suddenly change things- which isn’t how it works and a serious insult to both current parents and teachers.

also those parents will be angry and will be using their ‘passion’ to tutor/ work with their kids- they will most likely be in all the top sets and get the most attention now due to the league tables, again pushing those bright state school children who can’t afford tuition to the middle. The kids at the bottom and the kids at the top are the ones who get the attention. I don’t see how you think this is a good deal for current state school children.

more funding is definitely needed but this method will make the rich poor divide far worse as only the elite will now be able to afford the fees and worse for current state school children who will have to share more limited resources. Tax Amazon and Google even 5% and we will have far more funding than this.

Universities will be next.

Ask your child, any self respecting public school will have a tax a avoidance club running at lunchtimes.

@Saskia11 thanks yes my daughter is in a state secondary school that's great and she's doing really well. She loves it and we have so much respect for many of the staff.

Such a stupid, prejudiced comment

🤣🤣🤣

Prejudice is holding an unfair or unreasonable opinion.

Yes yes you're very clever and funny etc

Not entirely correct. Eg. I can buy disability equipment without paying VAT as I have a qualifying medical condition. I just have to make a declaration when I buy it.

As someone who spent a brief period of my training supporting a law firm partner who specialised in tax avoidance I can confirm that many wealthy people are prepared to pay their lawyers and accountants vast sums of money to avoid paying tax.

Yes my husband does that, seems very simple and I often wonder if it is actually checked although I suppose only people who need disability equipment will be buying it.

If your school has an pay in advance scheme that could be a way around it

Agreed! Even the lower cost private schools are still £15k per year, per child. Average of two kids, thats a spare 30 grand (after tax) per year. That's pretty much the average household income.

Those "sacrifices" aren't going to be heating or eating. They'll be ski trips and flash cars.

In order to be able "prioritise" money, you need to have money in the first place.

Best way ti avoid private school VAT? Go to state school. You know with the normal people.

Also the best way to avoid a decent education 😂 Joke

In my experience the difference between rich state school parents and private school parents, is that the former is more likely to own 1m+ pound properties (they often prioritise the house over investments etc). Private school parents are more likely to have smaller houses / rent.

Labour knows this of course because most of their MPs send their kinds to millionaire state catchments.

So Labour have said that the tax on private education will fund free breakfast clubs for all primary school students. It’s a good use of the money IMO. Even though it I am in a relatively affluent area, kids have been turning up to school hungry since the cost of living increases. My friend is a teacher.

Labour have already promised the money several different ways.

It's very unlikely that it will make enough money to pay for even 1 of these promises, let alone all of them.

If 10% of private school kids move to state then the new tax will raise £0 net.

If more than that move, the new tax will cost the government money.

We should introduce a tax on ultra processed / junk food instead, that way it would raise money as well as tackle the obesity crisis. Rather than punishing people who choose to spend their extra cash on bettering the next generation.

Or at least be consistent and start adding VAT on to private healthcare too.

This, especially the first two paragraphs.

OP, I think it’s too risky at this point to plan extensively how to avoid the VAT. However, you can think of various ways to optimise for your family using state schools. Think about what could be your state alternatives after this phase of education, what it takes to get in, what supplemental tuition / extracurricular activities you might want, and importantly, if you move to state, how to use your school fee savings to optimise for your family. Think about cutting work hours, putting more into pension (esp if you’re at the £100k band), greater support for your children’s first house, etc. Some of these moves might reduce your tax liabilities. This policy might end up benefiting some current private school parents in a few years - despite the initial pain.

Yes VAT on private healthcare and ultra processed food as well. A tax on UPF could fund subsidies to fresh or frozen fruit and veg.

And tax private education as well: I was a high earner, but I’d rather kids from poorer homes are fed.

There's really no need for social funding to come from a tax on something similar. The government takes tax income from lots of taxes, and pays out for lots of social policies. The reasons/cost/benefit for each tax and each benefit should be considered individually on its own merits. If more funding is needed for benefits, then the best additional tax should be added, not one which just happens to be in the same area.

If you want to tax UPF, go ahead. The sugar tax does seem to have had some real benefits for health.

If you want to subsidise fruit and veg - OK, although you'd need a mechanism for it. We don't do that for any other purchases (except things like prescriptions and glasses- but there's a whole framework around those which aren't available for food purchases)

But there is absolutely no reason for the 2 things to be linked, just because they both relate to food!

Similarly, if you want to improve state education that's very reasonable - but there's absolutely no reason for that to be hypothecated from a tax on education.