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bigduckontax
bigduckontax, Accountant
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I would like help with how to get the VAT back from my

hi I would like help... Show More
hi I would like help with how to get the VAT back from my homecare company that they charged me last year.
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Hello, I am Keith, one of the experts on Just Answer, and p-leased to be able to help you with your question.

If you are the end user in this purchase then that is where VAT finally crystalises into a cost for you. Unless you have a business registered for VAT and these supplies are part of that business then a reclaim is not possible.

I am so sorry to have to rain on your parade.

Customer reply replied 1 year ago.
I don't understand your answer. I am a individual who is disabled and so have paid a company to send carers to my home to help me. this company has only been trading since april 2015 and have charged me Vat up until april 2016 when they stopped.
they have said the reason for this is that they have now applied for a excemption of some kind. but the service they have provided has always been an excempted service.

Ah, that can make a difference. However, the Gov UK web site gives a list of items which can be VAT free for disabled persons. Unless the service is for one of these, and from the tenor of your question this is not the case, then the charge of the tax for this supply is correct:

'Qualifying products or services

Your supplier can tell you, but usually products designed or adapted for a disability qualify. For example, certain types of:

  • adjustable beds
  • stair lifts
  • wheelchairs
  • medical appliances to help with severe injuries
  • alarms
  • braille paper or low vision aids - but not spectacles or contact lenses
  • motor vehicles - or the leasing of a motability vehicle'
Customer reply replied 1 year ago.
this is a list of products. but not services. i can not get them to tell me why they are exempt this year and not last year. as their service has not changed.

But, it may have from "care" to "support" as the two have different VAT treatments. If your homecare company provides support under a Supporting People contract then the service will be standard rated for VAT unless your you are a charity or other recognised body.

Customer reply replied 1 year ago.
well then they must have filled out their paperwork wrong last year by the look of it. as they have always been a care company. so why should I suffer because they don't know what they are doing? surely they can claim that money back?

Only from your care provider; there is simply no other way.

Customer reply replied 1 year ago.
I have asked them for it and they won't give it back.
Customer reply replied 1 year ago.
what I need to know is how do I force them to give it back

You will have to seek recovery through the Small Claims Court. That might concentrate their minds wonderfully.

Customer reply replied 1 year ago.
the woman sent me a garbled email as a reply. mybe you can make sense of it

I can and this is a new company providing a support service, a standard rated supply. In fact they appear to have got it wrong anyway, care need not necessarily confined to nursing care only. Your only resource is to go to the Local Authority responsible for the provision of services and ask them what they think they are playing at.

Customer reply replied 1 year ago.
from the point you have just mentioned above. I think she may be admitting that this is what they have done. put their company down as a support company instead of the care company that they are. their workers go out to people with dementia and people who are bed ridden and have to hoist people and give people medication. its far more than support.
but they are a private company. not through the local authority. it was after I had a meeting with the company care manager and my social worker where the vat was brought up that the charges were stopped from my invoices for this year.
is court my only choice now??

From what you say the firm seems to have put its house in order. That being the case they should have no difficulty in refunding the incorrectly added VAT. If they still refuse you should think about a Small Claim. I had assumed that the work was done by the Local Authority through a contractor.

Customer reply replied 1 year ago.
no I choice the other option of having a direct payment so I could pick the company that came in. glad I did because the invoices were getting that they were more than the money the council were giving me even though I was having less hours care. so I asked my social worker for more money and had to give her proof. she spotted the vat and it was stopped from my invoices that next month.

Well you are getting somewhere. There is no reason why the supplier cannot refund the tax incorrectly levied. All they have to do is issue correct invoices and cancel the incorrect and pass the adjustment through their VAT account. A bit laborious I agree, but not rocket science.

Customer reply replied 1 year ago.
thank you I will email them what you have said and see what they say in response.

They probably will not want the fag of correcting the matter!

Thank you for your support.