This West Ham auction - question for any Tax/VAT experts

[colchestersid]

Reading the small print, the company running the auctions are saying they will charge both a buyers premium of 16% + VAT on the winning bid but also VAT on the actual winning bid on all items.

So if something sells for £1000 they will lump on £160 buyer's premium, £32 VAT on the premium and £200 VAT on the item sold

I'm no tax expert but that doesn't sound right?

Antiques and magazines/publications are VAT exempt. It's fine to charge VAT on the buyer's premium but isn't it fraudulent to collect VAT on VAT exempt items?

Before you ask - yes, I've emailed them!

http://pages.hilcoind.com/FarewellBoleynAuctionFAQs

In 20 years of buying at auctions I have never seen this before.

[ntw]

"Items to be sold at auction within the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) can be offered under the Auctioneers' Margin Scheme or under normal Value Added Tax (VAT) rules. "

Source: http://www.thomasdelmar.com/Catalogues/as091209/vatnotes.html (there's more detail here)

It's a bit old, but maybe still relevant? Not my area of expertise I'm afraid, but Google is your friend! HMRC have more info here too: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-7182-the-vat-auctioneers-scheme/vat-notice-7182-the-vat-auctioneers-scheme

It might not be commonplace, but seems there's nothing untoward.

[NYGiants]

Not directly relevant to the original question but wondering if anyone was successful with winning internet bids?

I was successful with a number of bids last Monday and Tuesday and was a bit surprised to learn when the invoice landed via email that I had to collect the items by Monday (ie today) with no arrangements for any storage if unable to collect by then.

Added to that, payment was only to be made by bank transfer. In itself, that should not present a hassle but, as I am at the Euros for the Northern Ireland games, I am unable to set up a new payee online (as I bank with RBS, I need a small security device with me to be able to do this).

Anyway, significant hassle as I assumed they would at least accept debit card payment.

In the end, they've now extended date for payment and collection for me to Wednesday so it's the first thing I'll be doing when I get off the Eurostar .......... but it has taught me a valuable lesson to always read the small-print !!!

[slightfold]

I'm in France too! The last point you make is true with any contracts, 'the large print giveth but the small print taketh away.' Good luck with your progress, Cymru am byth!

[NYGiants]

slightfold wrote:

I'm in France too! The last point you make is true with any contracts, 'the large print giveth but the small print taketh away.' Good luck with your progress, Cymru am byth!

Thanks and good luck to Wales this evening.

I need to reign in my celebrations tomorrow when Northern Ireland defeat Germany so that I can rise for the early Eurostar service out of Paris.

Part of the problem is that I didn't sign up for the auction until on the Nice to Lyon train last Monday morning. I thought checking out the auction and bidding on a few items would help kill the time of a long journey but, of course, when in that frame of mind the small print tends to go out the window