Auctions houses still charge CC Fees?

[justina3 518]

37 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Possible (a reason we stopped, or reworded a reward system at work for customer loyalty many years ago).

Possible but It is highly unlikely, HMRC has enough trouble gaining unpaid taxes from various companies, without checking all the incidentals.  Pay tax and VAT on time without errors and you are unlikely to ever get any investigation, let alone into these "perks."  In any case, I use personal CC, so even more work to route out what's business and what's personal.  Worst case, you have to pay tax on the benefit which is still less than the RRP

I disagree the vat office will make a visit to every new registered business normally within its first year as the norm, and its the incidentals they go looking for, the sundry columns are easy pickings for a trained eye, and the reason they make it routine to visit a business during the first year is they catch all your mistakes / claims before your accountant has time to clean them up during your year end, very easy source of revenue for the HMRC.

 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

Since the crash I’ve not owed a penny to anyone, credit cards & interest free was rife. Credit cards are great until the shit hits the fan or you want to borrow money from a bank, they will see all your debt and borrowing habits on your credit file. It isn’t sustainable. I’ve said this before, I will never owe a penny to anyone ever again. 

[trade vet 702]

16 minutes ago, justina3 said:

I disagree the vat office will make a visit to every new registered business normally within its first year as the norm, and its the incidentals they go looking for, the sundry columns are easy pickings for a trained eye, and the reason they make it routine to visit a business during the first year is they catch all your mistakes / claims before your accountant has time to clean them up during your year end, very easy source of revenue for the HMRC.

 

Sound advice for newbies..

[MattR 177]

Each to their own. a great way of paying for your recon too and fuel, costs you nothing and another month before its due.

[Mark101 536]

Taking all this on board:

1) HMRC have never investigated me in any capacity in the past, either as a trader or as an employed board execeutive turning £200m but I do appreciate your concerns/warnings.

2) If HMRC investigated me right now, they would feel very sorry for me as my investment vs. sales is so heavily skewed in their favor.

3) There is absolutely nothing untoward going on - I keep my books impeccably up to date and correct (easy when you have 6 cars, 1 workshop, 1 body shop and 3 vendors)

4) I don't think how you fund the procurement of vehicles and remedial work has any bearing on HMRC, it is how you record the invoices in/out, VAT margin and PAYE that counts.

5) I am not drawing any salary yet (living off savings) and have just incorporated, allowing deduction for directors loans/investment - after which I will be taking min. wage + dividend.

[metcars 397]

Just out of interest, what is the current preferred way for 'newbies' to fund stock buying in 2018. I don't think buying one car at a time and building up is workable in a realistic time frame? Other than that, save up for 10yrs, lottery win or bank robbery?

[EPV 631]

35 minutes ago, met said:

Just out of interest, what is the current preferred way for 'newbies' to fund stock buying in 2018. I don't think buying one car at a time and building up is workable in a realistic time frame? Other than that, save up for 10yrs, lottery win or bank robbery?

I had a £15k pot that I used to buy three cars, that was at the start of the year. 10 sales later and I’ve doubled my forecourt size by reinvesting profits. It means I still have to work a day job but hopefully not much longer. 

I’m seriously considering a credit line of some sort (either personal credit card or bank overdraft) and doubling my stock again, and just going for gold. Might be a bit premature but i’m sorely tempted. 

[metcars 397]

22 minutes ago, EPV said:

I had a £15k pot that I used to buy three cars, that was at the start of the year. 10 sales later and I’ve doubled my forecourt size by reinvesting profits. It means I still have to work a day job but hopefully not much longer. 

I’m seriously considering a credit line of some sort (either personal credit card or bank overdraft) and doubling my stock again, and just going for gold. Might be a bit premature but i’m sorely tempted. 

Trading from home?

[EPV 631]

19 minutes ago, met said:

Trading from home?

Yes mate but considering renting 3000sqft of outdoor storage compound and plonking a portakabin on it. I want a unit but they are hard to find in the right nick and reasonable rates. 

[metcars 397]

9 minutes ago, EPV said:

Yes mate but considering renting 3000sqft of outdoor storage compound and plonking a portakabin on it. I want a unit but they are hard to find in the right nick and reasonable rates. 

Whereabouts are you based?

[EPV 631]

Just now, met said:

Whereabouts are you based?

Bromley, which is north west Kent/south east london borders. 

[metcars 397]

5 minutes ago, EPV said:

Bromley, which is north west Kent/south east london borders. 

Yeah, I know Bromley. It's the posh part of South East London

[EPV 631]

33 minutes ago, met said:

Yeah, I know Bromley. It's the posh part of South East London

No such thing. I should know, I grew up in SE London! 

[It's me 615]

4 hours ago, tradex said:

Spent a few years in Beckenham and Bromley back in the 80's, was a lovely place to live back then, not cheap though. We went back in 2016 to visit friends and wow, boy has it changed, even more expensive and I thought Hastings was rough.

Real shame. Most of the small car dealers had gone,  to be replaced by cars with For Sale signs parked on every available bit of greenery, corner and garden. 

And Pier Luigis was just as packed and just as overated

heyyyyyyyyyyyy pier luigi............ just like my mama used to make it

[metcars 397]

6 hours ago, tradex said:

Spent a few years in Beckenham and Bromley back in the 80's, was a lovely place to live back then, not cheap though. We went back in 2016 to visit friends and wow, boy has it changed, even more expensive and I thought Hastings was rough.

Real shame. Most of the small car dealers had gone,  to be replaced by cars with For Sale signs parked on every available bit of greenery, corner and garden.

Funny you should mention that. For my sins I sometimes attend the Manheim thursday sale. If I decide to hang around for the evening sale I usually kill a few hours in Clacton/Walton on the naze. I reckon 50% of the evening sale ends up by the side of the road in the surrounding areas.

[justina3 518]

On 3/31/2018 at 3:57 PM, Mark101 said:

Taking all this on board:

1) HMRC have never investigated me in any capacity in the past, either as a trader or as an employed board execeutive turning £200m but I do appreciate your concerns/warnings.

2) If HMRC investigated me right now, they would feel very sorry for me as my investment vs. sales is so heavily skewed in their favor.

3) There is absolutely nothing untoward going on - I keep my books impeccably up to date and correct (easy when you have 6 cars, 1 workshop, 1 body shop and 3 vendors)

4) I don't think how you fund the procurement of vehicles and remedial work has any bearing on HMRC, it is how you record the invoices in/out, VAT margin and PAYE that counts.

5) I am not drawing any salary yet (living off savings) and have just incorporated, allowing deduction for directors loans/investment - after which I will be taking min. wage + dividend.

I still disagree with your thought pattern which is based on personal experience and sleeping with the enemy so to speak.

Your points,

 no1 I have no idea on gods earth how that has happened 200m and not a single vat inspection well done however you managed that.

2. Unless you have purchased a load of equipment or have massive preparation costs your investment vat reclaim will still be relatively small, I am in no way questioning your book keeping or finicial record keeping please do not take my comments that way.

4. Yes everything in a vat inspection has bearing for example they use your data to spot check back in the office another business for example if your using garage xyz and spend a lot of money with them they will quickly type in xyz company at a later date and see if there recording sales if your saying your spending a lot of money with them and there claims are showing hardly any sales bingo and out come the diggers.

5. This is the biggest spock eye brow raise they have, if your not drawing any salary they will want to know how you live its all well and good saying you live of savings but they will want to know where those savings come from and was the tax paid on them at source, a lot of garage owners get caught like this thinking a simple I don’t draw money from the business so I don’t pay tax works, it doesn’t and don’t think as it has nothing to do with VAT they have no right to ask for those details if they suspect your living of cash taken from the business and saying its life savings they have every right to ask and more.

A lot of what an inspector will ask for will be based on their gut instinct drawing on many inspections and years of experience they can smell an honest mistake from a cover up a mile away, her indoors no longer does daily inspections and has now rolled into a teaching role for fresh inspectors but before she came off the road she would do on average 2-3 inspections a week take that over 20 years and that’s a whole load of smelling a rat experience, as in all things in life you will have a decent inspector and you will have someone with issues, just like the police judges car sales men and so on.

[Mark101 536]

12 minutes ago, justina3 said:

I still disagree with your thought pattern which is based on personal experience and sleeping with the enemy so to speak.

 

Your points,

 

 no1 I have no idea on gods earth how that has happened 200m and not a single vat inspection well done however you managed that.

 

2. Unless you have purchased a load of equipment or have massive preparation costs your investment vat reclaim will still be relatively small, I am in no way questioning your book keeping or finicial record keeping please do not take my comments that way.

 

4. Yes everything in a vat inspection has bearing for example they use your data to spot check back in the office another business for example if your using garage xyz and spend a lot of money with them they will quickly type in xyz company at a later date and see if there recording sales if your saying your spending a lot of money with them and there claims are showing hardly any sales bingo and out come the diggers.

 

5. This is the biggest spock eye brow raise they have, if your not drawing any salary they will want to know how you live its all well and good saying you live of savings but they will want to know where those savings come from and was the tax paid on them at source, a lot of garage owners get caught like this thinking a simple I don’t draw money from the business so I don’t pay tax works, it doesn’t and don’t think as it has nothing to do with VAT they have no right to ask for those details if they suspect your living of cash taken from the business and saying its life savings they have every right to ask and more.

 

A lot of what an inspector will ask for will be based on their gut instinct drawing on many inspections and years of experience they can smell an honest mistake from a cover up a mile away, her indoors no longer does daily inspections and has now rolled into a teaching role for fresh inspectors but before she came off the road she would do on average 2-3 inspections a week take that over 20 years and that’s a whole load of smelling a rat experience, as in all things in life you will have a decent inspector and you will have someone with issues, just like the police judges car sales men and so on.

You probably know a lot more than I do to be fair, our CFO saw to all HMRC matters.

I keep everything up to date and above board simply because I am very aware that it can happen.

The £200m company wasn't mine (unfortunately, I was a board member but still a humble employee) this is where my savings came from that I am currently living off and funding my start-up (and again, of course this was taxable income - I would be happy if I could earn what I used to pay in tax lol).

The main point is that as yet, I am unregistered for VAT (it's looming but I'm not there yet).  Regarding Tax in general, I haven't drawn a bean out but put plenty in - so hopefully this only becomes a problem when I start making money.

Thank you for your insight, it is appreciated - I have a lot to learn about this industry and cannot believe how much has changed since my last venture.

Regards, Mark

 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Mark101
Typo

[justina3 518]

1 hour ago, Mark101 said:

You probably know a lot more than I do to be fair, our CFO saw to all HMRC matters.

I keep everything up to date and above board simply because I am very aware that it can happen.

The £200m company wasn't mine (unfortunately, I was a board member but still a humble employee) this is where my savings came from that I am currently living off and funding my start-up (and again, of course this was taxable income - I would be happy if I could earn what I used to pay in tax lol).

The main point is that as yet, I am unregistered for VAT (it's looming but I'm not there yet).  Regarding Tax in general, I haven't drawn a bean out but put plenty in - so hopefully this only becomes a problem when I start making money.

Thank you for your insight, it is appreciated - I have a lot to learn about this industry and cannot believe how much has changed since my last venture.

Regards, Mark

 

It’s changing daily buddy us old dogs have to learn new tricks daily 

[Mark101 536]

4 minutes ago, justina3 said:

It’s changing daily buddy us old dogs have to learn new tricks daily 

Some of it is great - mainly due to the web.  The ability to transfer money, bid on cars, sell cars, register online, tax online etc - all in the blink of an eye - that is a great improvement and V5's tend to arrive within a few days, not the old 2-3 weeks.

What I really struggle with are the low margins.  I used to have a grand in everything from £300 bangers to £7,500 decent stuff.  Best ever was a Volvo Wedge (think 480 ES) paid £295 at auction, low buyers fees - washed and sold for £1,295 in a week.  I miss that!

Thanks for all your help justina3 - I really do appreciate it.

[EPV 631]

On 31/03/2018 at 2:29 PM, Mark101 said:

Depends, I don't have a company CC but I have about £70k limit on personal spread across about 7 cards ranging from £3,500 to £12,000 each.

I never turn credit away and always use some to keep me in check.

One of my closest mates is a multi-millionaire and has zero credit rating - he couldn't even get a store card at Debenhams - the reason, he has never had credit beyond his original mortgage.

Credit should only be used for growth/expansion not luxuries - just my opinion

Sorry to dig this up again, I've landed myself in an awkward situation and could use some advice on this exact subject.

I've decided to roll the dice and go full time at this and had a couple of personal Amex cards lined up to fund the additional stock I'll need to hopefully draw a living. I had intended to use my own card machine (iZettle type thing) but Amex have dropped a little bombshell on me today and informed me that it's a no no and rapped me across the knuckles. To say it's set me on the back foot is an understatement. It's frustrating, I have access to around £25k of credit but can't use it for what I need.

Has anyone who uses CC's to fund stock (or has done) got any ideas? It looks like my aim of making a go of this business full time is scuppered before it's even started!

[andymc1973 199]

CC as a way of funding cars? madness IMHO

[EPV 631]

2 minutes ago, andymc1973 said:

CC as a way of funding cars? madness IMHO

Just to clarify, the credit would be repaid when a sale is made. 

[andymc1973 199]

and what if it doesn't sell or the engine goes pop?

[EPV 631]

2 minutes ago, andymc1973 said:

and what if it doesn't sell or the engine goes pop?

A sale, not THE sale. I have a stock of 5, In theory, when I sell one of the original 5 that isn't funded by a CC, that pays off the CC and I take the profit and reinvest.

As for an engine going pop, well, there are risks in business. I either take them or I don't.

If you have a funding suggestion I'm all ears mate. Currently looking at Close Bros stock funding plans, so I'm all ears. 

[andymc1973 199]

what about starting slowly and building up?

next gear are popular up my way