A medical form was filled in by a GP who charged circa £130 per hour for the service. When the invoice was raised it was payable to the doctor himself but they wanted VAT paying to the surgery. This sounds to me like he pockets the money and the surgery who are VAT registered get the VAT. I'm no expert but this doesn't sound right; can anyone who knows a bit about this advise?
I'm not an expert, but I run my own vat registered business. The doctor can only charge vat if he is vat registered. If the surgery is issuing the invoice, and they are vat registered, then obviously they can charge vat - but it is the surgery who should be being paid. Sounds a bit dodgy to me, but I'm no expert. The doctor and the surgery mess with HM VAT inspectors at their peril, because if they suspect any slight imperfections by a business, they can go through your accounts with a fine tooth comb. And I think the onus is on you (the business) to prove them wrong!
Similarly to [MENTION=55262]cambstyke[/MENTION] I'm no expert I just run my own VAT-registered business. If the doctor is not VAT-registered then presumably your paying him the element of the bill without VAT directly is effectively a short-cut to you paying the whole amount to the surgery and then them paying him the element without VAT. They'll then have to pay that VAT back either way, of course. I think the net effect is therefore the same but that doesn't mean they're actually allowed to do this. It's the kind of thing I'd never do myself for fear of triggering a time-consuming inspection. Keep it Simple Stupid.
Is this all one one invoice? If its all one one invoice with one address and one VAT number I dont think there is any reason why they cant ask you to pay the vat element into a seperate account Its a bit unusual but they may put all their VAT into a separate account just to track of it. Bit poor asking your customers to do that for you though If its not all one one invoice its decidedly dodgy though
