Vehicle Insurance, VAT invoices?

[Matt-LW]

Hi,

Looking for some advice on the following:

I've recently purchased a couple of days temporary vehicle insurance so a colleague could drive my van. Using a common online one-day insure company.

Now as the insured party is not myself, the documents don't have my details on (which I would think sufficient for normal accounting if it were myself I had insured), though I organized and paid for said insurance.

Having contacted the company in question, requesting a proper invoice or receipt, I have been told they do not issue sales receipts/invoices beyond the documentation they send out for the policy. Which is not suitable in my situation.

So

1/ Does this sound correct that an insurance company does not think they need to issue any invoices or receipts when requested to supply, buy a customer ?

2/ Are insurance companies operating as VAT registered companies e.g. Are they covered by the rule that as a VAT registered business they must supply a VAT invoice if requested to by another VAT registered business (I'm VAT registered, I also appreciate there is no VAT on insurance, but unclear to me if it is zero rated or out of the scope, if out of scope are they in or out of VAT rules still in that regard, as I would expect based on turnover they would be VAT registered).

3/ For accounting purposes, if the supplier will not issue a receipt, what is the best way of accounting for the cost to the business (have the insurance certs, cc bill with the payment ect). I am not look at VAT within that (I know there is no VAT to recover, I only mention VAT as i'm interested to find out if they are covered by the VAT rules as per my question 2).

Regards,

Matt

 

[Karimbo]

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...0136-insurance#vat-and-insurance-transactions

Insurance transactions are exempt from VAT. Normally VAT cannot be recovered on goods and services bought in to make exempt supplies. See paragraph 7.1 for more information on this.

Since there is no VAT, the invoice requirements aren't as rigid. You could use an online statement or any other documentation which has the date, amount paid and service description and file it in accounts.

Business insurance should come with the full receipts. Usually on personal insurance they don't provide receipts.

 

[David Griffiths]

1 Yes
2 No
3 There must be something in the documents that gives the price

 

[Matt-LW]

3 There must be something in the documents that gives the price

There is a cost on the documents, but it has the name/address of the driver (3rd party I insured for the day ) and no mention of of my name or address as the purchaser of the policy (even though they were qiute happy to take my details for the card payment...).

Seems very odd to me a business will not issue a receipt or invoice on request..........

-m

 

[john1989]

Of course it will be in the name of the third party, that is who they insured.

You have incurred a cost in the course of your business. You have proof that it is to cover a business vehicle that you own (registration number) and have proof of payment.

You seem to overcomplicating the issue. What exactly is concerning you?

 

[Matt-LW]

Of course it will be in the name of the third party, that is who they insured.

You have incurred a cost in the course of your business. You have proof that it is to cover a business vehicle that you own (registration number) and have proof of payment.

You seem to overcomplicating the issue. What exactly is concerning you?

I usually work on the basis of having an invoice/receipt with my details on it, to put against a business cost. The only proof I have of payment is a credit card statement.

If that's acceptable to the tax man, then that's fine, but I wasn't aware it was hence the question.

-m

 

[john1989]

Perfectly acceptable.

You don't need a VAT invoice because there is not VAT to reclaim.

 

[Matt-LW]

Perfectly acceptable.

You don't need a VAT invoice because there is not VAT to reclaim.

Yes I realise there is no VAT to reclaim and don't *need* a VAT invoice (I did say that initially), I only mentioned VAT as, if the company were trading under VAT rules, they would then have a legal requiment to supply me a VAT invoice (when I initially asked, I wasn't clear if insurance was zero rated or out of the scope of VAT), which would then be better than a receipt, I thought I'd made that clear......

So to be clear, the tax man won't give a monkeys about a receipt if I can show i've made a payment for the same amount to the company on the shedual document, and I can use the shedual document and card statment in my accounts (even though it makes no mention of myself or Business, just the details of the insured 3rd party)?

Cheers,

-m

 

[john1989]

Again, the documentation you have is perfectly acceptable.

 

[Karimbo]

lol