Can I ask a VAT question pl?

[springlamb]

Say I am...a curtain/blind fitter. The customer picks out what curtains they want. I then purchase those curtains, and the fittings necessary, return and fit them.
My invoice reflects both my labour and the parts I have purchased to do the job. Obviously I have paid VAT on the parts I bought.
Does the invoice show the parts prices without the VAT and then add the VAT onto the whole invoice (ie parts and labour) at the end.
Otherwise isn't something slightly sniffy going on as in charging two lots of VAT on the parts.
I can't get my head around something, any answers appreciated.

And supposing my parts suppliers give me a trade discount which I don't wish to pass on to my customer. What price would you show on the invoice.
[Slight disclaimer - I am not a curtain person - I'm crap at anything to do with home textiles.]

Are you VAT registered?? If so then you can reclaim the VAT you paid back so i would deduct it on the invoice but then add your VAT on top.

If not VAT reg then i would just put it on your invoice as price per part. If you dont want to pass on trade discount then jsut put in the price you charge for the parts.

Im not an expert mind, hopefully someone who is will come along.

Haver you looked at the VAT scheme for small businesses where you just pay an average VAT level (trade dependent), you cnet reclaim any VAT then but you do charge it out...called the Flat Rate scheme.

Ok NOT an expert but I understand it similarly to Hairybaby's mum, only with the slight clarification that if you are not VAT registered you don't charge VAT on the invoice.

So to sum up...

If you are VAT registered then you should not be paying VAT on the curtains in the first place, or if you are, you should claim it back. You put the curtains down on the invoice without any VAT and then charge VAT on the whole of your invoice including the curtains.

If you are not VAT registered then you pay the VAT on the curtains, charge them on the invoice including the VAT, but you do not add VAT onto the invoice.

Basically the government should only be getting one lot of VAT on the curtains.

Hopefully someone expert will come along to clarify this though...

If you are not VAT registered you MUST NOT mention VAT anywhere in your price.
It's often best to put "VAT not applicable to this invoice" at the bottom for clarity.

What ever the bottom line of the invoice you paid is the ONLY price that is relevant for your accounts.

If you are VAT registered, but your customer is not, the VAT amount is also irrelevant as they have to pay the VAT on the whole of your goods and services and cannot reclaim it.

For more information, have a look here
cgi3.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=talkinpeace

It's purely hypothetical. I'm not VAT registered for this at the moment, but trying to fathom out, just being nosey.
So the consensus is that, say, an invoice from my car servicer lists Labour £100, Parts £100.00 and then adds £40 VAT, he should have paid £100 (plus VAT to his supplier) and not paid £80.00 (plus VAT to his supplier) as a trade price and then charged me the retail price of £100 (plus £20 VAT).
Is it up to him to decide how much he charges for the parts irrespective of how much he pays. I suppose it is, as I could always go somewhere cheaper.
Another disclaimer - DH is my motor mechanic so I have no dispute with anyone in the field. Just trying to find an example.
In fact, I'm just being incredibly annoying. I get these situations into my head and can't rest until I know the answer. If I spent less time on this and a bit more on work I might even get to be VAT registered.
Thank you for interrupting your own work to help, now please ignore, I am overthinking about things that don't even concern me!

Spring,
What the retailer charges you for an item will almost never be what they paid for it from their wholesales - otherwise they cannot recoup their stockholding costs and general overheads.
The standard retailer percentage is 235%
wholesale price doubled plus VAT
below that they are unlikely to make a profit.

Have a look at the accounts section of my ebay me page - there are VAT calculations in there.