UK purchases for new French business?

[Bastet]

Hi everyone

well I'm now registered as menuisier, quite painless so far but I'm now waiting for the deluge of demands to fall through the letterbox[:D]

I want to buy some new power tools, mainly a decent mitre saw like the dewalt dw718 with stand. I've searched in vain for a reasonably priced supplier in France so my question is this;

Can I purchase this tool from the UK & put it through my company accounts, how would I avoid paying two lots of vat? Does anyone know a uk supplier who will sell to France ex-vat? I've heard it's possible & that way I can re-claim the tva at this end. If anybody can point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful, or if anyone has found a french supplier who doesn't add 50% to uk prices I'd be happy to buy here[;-)]

best wishes

tony

[Val_2]

We have done this many times. As long as you have a french TVA number, you give this to your UK supplier who invoices at Zero rated VAT. HOwever, this only applies to items sent by them, if you go and collect from the UK you have to pay the VAT and then claim it back here later.

[Bastet]

oh that's great news, thanks Val. I will be using a mail order company so should be able to get it zero rated then. How do I declare & pay the tva here on arrival of the goods?

[Nick Trollope]

[quote user="Bastet"]oh that's great news, thanks Val. I will be using a mail order company so should be able to get it zero rated then. How do I declare & pay the tva here on arrival of the goods?[/quote]

You don't. You enter the purchase on the appropriate bit of your TVA return, you then pay it, and instantly reclaim it as part of your normal TVA procedure! TVA/VAT has never been easy!

Edit - This assumes that you are registered for TVA in France - if you are not, then you must pay the UK VAT (@17.5%, cheaper than France) and that's it, no more to pay.

 

[Bastet]

cheers Nick, I am tva registered so I will happily leave all the details for my accountant to sort out[:D]

thanks for the advice