Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Misleading Invoice

5 replies

AngelaChasesBestLife · 30/10/2022 19:26

More of a what would you do I suppose.

We've just had some work done in our house. The original quote for the work listed a total price for the job. Underneath the price, written in red, it says, "subject to VAT at the standard rate."

The company doing the work sent the final bill to us last week. I checked this, and the figures did not add up. We'd agreed something else to be added into the work but even allowing for that the figure was still off what I was expecting. I wrote to them querying whether the invoice was correct. They have written back to me saying that I was right that the invoice was wrong on the figures provided, but they ADDITIONALLY realised that they hadn't added the VAT. They've now sent a bill for the whole lot.

I think their originally quote was at best poorly drafted as it is ambiguous whether the original figure was inclusive of VAT. Not sure if I have any recourse. There is nothing in their quote or the T&Cs attached to say whether the subject to VAT was included or not. Feel a bit irritated that I even queried it in the first place but do feel like I've been mugged off!

OP posts:
Geneticsbunny · 30/10/2022 19:34

"Subject to vat" means that it isn't included in the quote as far as I understand it. I think you will just have to pay the extra unfortunately.

Catapultaway · 30/10/2022 19:37

Subject to vat means VAT still to be added on. Don't think that's ambiguous.
Still quite the mistake to forget to charge it, but can happen with trades and builders. Some of the work they do is standard rated, other such as as subcontractors on new builds is zero rated or reverse charged.
I'd still do a double check to make sure you have a proper vat invoice and the vat number matches the company.

mynameiscalypso · 30/10/2022 19:40

Sorry, it's not ambiguous at all to me. Subject to VAT means VAT will be charged (which is what I'd expect - I wouldn't expect a quote to include it in the total but would always expect it as a separate line item).

MintChocCornetto · 30/10/2022 20:15

If there's no line item for VAT on the invoice that means it is charged on top.

It's normal for invoices not to include VAT.

Sorry you didn't know this but your builders haven't done anything wrong. 'subject to VAT' is quite clear and means VAT is extra.

AngelaChasesBestLife · 30/10/2022 20:49

Thank you every one for your advice, it's much appreciated.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page