Has anyone backdated flat rate VAT claim?

[pippaconsidine]

I'm a freelance journalist and have been advised to backdate my invoices for 4 years. One of my employers is fine with this, the other is spooked and I can't see why. I think he's concerned that re-presenting invoices will get the VAT man on his back asking questions and no-one wants that. It could mean an extra £10 K to me, which is the equivalent of SIX MONTHS WORK, so I'm very eager to make it happen.

Anyone else had this situation? Any advice gratefully received

We realised that we would be better of on a flat rate after 2 years trading and asking HMRC if we could back date even the last quarter and were told no. Sorry.

Why would you be advised to backdate your invoices for 4 years tho?

You can't usually get a refund of Vat on the FRS.

You pay a fixed % of turnover instead of calculating input & out put tax separately.

There are exemptions for capital assets over a certain cost but if you are due for a refund of vat for whatever reason, then FRS is probably not right for you.

Can you clarify exactly what you mean by Vat claim - it's generally a two-way tax.

I think we need to know why you have been advised to backdate invoices - I can see why employers would find this an unusual request...

You may be able to backdate VAT if you are backdating your VAT registration. So if you're not currently registered but are asking for a backdated registration from say 1 jan 2013 then you can ask to be on flat rate from the same date. I'm not sure they'd let you backdate it four years, though. The longest I've asked for (and got) was 14 months and that was because the business was supposed to have registered 14 months ago and just missed their proper date of registration. I'm not sure whether the VAT office is as generous on voluntary registrations. It might be worth asking, though, if both your clients are willing to pay the VAT on 4-year old invoices

What I can see for them is they will have closed and if they are a limited company registered those accounts with companies house for those years. Plus they will have submitted their VAT returns for those periods so maybe unable to claim their VAT back.
Finally if they put this VAT all through on the next VAT return they are likely to alter the VAT they are reclaiming as a percentage of their turnover etc. and if this is more than a couple of percent will trigger a VAT inspection - it happened to me and the VAT inspector told us this was the most common reason for inspection.
If you approached me with this I have to say I would say no as I could see it only causing my business hassle.