I'm a novice at Bookkeeping. I have completed my level 3 computerised book keeping and tried to set up at home doing book keeping part time while my young children grow up! Anyway I have my first potential client. A chap who owns a garage, he sells cars etc and wants me to go and do his book keeping for him. He wants the first session at his house so he can see how i do it! - pressure!
Are there any special dispensations or anything like that with car selling that I need to be aware of? I know I can do it I just need to be confident but I thought I would ask on here to see if anyone had any tips esp in regards to the business type.
He is VAT reg. He sells cars mainly but will do repairs and mots in the future. At the moment he records his sales etc in an excel spreadsheet along with the rest of his finances. He has sage but doesn't know how to use it...!
you need to check if he is in the Vat margin scheme (and if not, perhaps he should be). Sage won't handle the Vat margin scheme natively - you would need a bolt-on or you could do the calculations and the stock book outside of Sage.
Feeling out of my depth now! Wouldn't the accountant sort out the VAT margin? If not what does it mean in regards to my normal SAGE input? Do I need to do the depreciation on the cars or because presumably he is selling the cars at a profit does this not come into it? Many thanks
the cars are inventory (current assets) so are not depreciated.
Everyone has assumed that this is a very small garage with a couple of second hand cars out front, please could you confirm that assumption as if selling new cars you would also need to consider consignment stock.
kind regards,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
the assumption is right it is a small dealership that only stocks second hand cars. Thank you for all the advice. Just getting started out and need to just do it!
Louise is right, you need to be aware of the VAT margin scheme.
If he buys a car for £5000, then sells it for £7000, he pays VAT on the differance. If he does repairs to the car to make it saleable £5000, £500 repairs, sell for £7000, then VAT is charged on £1500.
