I went out for a meal last night to try a new place, a nice Italian restaurant.

I found it very amusing that on the bottom of every page of the menu it said "please be aware 20% of your bill goes direct to the tax man".

It was like they were the only people in the country losing 20% and had the make you aware of it. It also stated somewhere else on the menu that "unfortunatly we have had to put prices up due to our five figure tax bill".

We all finished and there was a dinner time special menu, so I picked it up and it had all the same blaming the tax man for the price increase, then they also named british gas for a 20% price increase (which was actually 9% and is dropping by 3% soon).

Just thought I'd share as it ammused me that they were put out having to pay for the gas to cook the overpriced food and then having a tax bill of five figure.

even so, they are wrong, 20% of the bill doesn't go to taxman, 20% of their profits does, and they can also claim 20% VAT back from their suppliers, landlord, electric/gas bills etc, etc.

My overall VAT bill is approx 7-8%, net, of my overall takings/turnover  RR Sport Supercharged Vesuvius Orange 4.2 V8 First edition

Prefer RR Vouge S/C but they don't do Orange !

By telling you they have a 5 figure tax bill they also tell you they are making a very healthy profit

B3EEE wrote:

landlord,

If I was a tax man (which I'm not, I specialise in avoidance - not evasion ) then I'd make sure their books were thoroughly turned over. I'm sure it won't be long, the tax man generally gets the last laugh  ON THE WAY: BMW F21 M140i
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I'm a property Landlord - and I can assure you that VAT is applicable to rent. If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd like to know about it. Lol  RR Sport Supercharged Vesuvius Orange 4.2 V8 First edition

Prefer RR Vouge S/C but they don't do Orange !

Beancounter_74 wrote:

If I was a tax man (which I'm not, I specialise in avoidance - not evasion ) then I'd make sure their books were thoroughly turned over. I'm sure it won't be long, the tax man generally gets the last laugh

Italians are (in)famous for not being good at paying any sort of taxes, so their sarcasm isn't a surprise.

B3EEE wrote:

I'm a property Landlord - and I can assure you that VAT is applicable to rent. If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd like to know about it. Lol

I don't pay tax on properties i rent. Never have.
Selling, leasing and letting commercial land and buildings are also exempt from VAT. But you can choose - or 'opt' - to give up the right to the exemption and to charge VAT at the standard rate instead. This allows you to reclaim input tax when otherwise you wouldn't be able to (see 'The difference between exempt and zero-rated' )



@ Daz, i'd find somewhere else to eat in future.

surely you pay tax, but maybe not VAT, as VAT is only applicable once rental income is over the VAT threshold of £79k - anything over that amount in total must be vatable. So one property rental of £20k is ok, but 10 at £20k is over the limit. You'll find that most commercial and retail landlords charge VAT

also, if you are self employed but under the VAT threshold, a property rental of any kind that puts income over £79k should result in the WHOLE income being vatable  RR Sport Supercharged Vesuvius Orange 4.2 V8 First edition

Prefer RR Vouge S/C but they don't do Orange !

TDV8Mat wrote:

By telling you they have a 5 figure tax bill they also tell you they are making a very healthy profit

I know that's what I was thinking too

@ady I defiantly won't be going back after every member of staff who walked past my chair knocked it! It wasn't very good value for money either hence the massive profit they must be making

£4.70 for one scoop of morrisons own ice cream and a tiny muffin cake

Rent, rates, vat on profit, income tax, national insurance contribution, car tax, van tax, maybe I need to tell all my new customers wanting electric gates, the price has increased due to the above...

I think I would leave before ordering and once I told the manager what a joke having that written on the menu, and sort it out..!

No tax on food as far as I'm aware..

No tax on takeaways, but taxed if you eat in.

DRDILL wrote:

I would love to know where a really decent Italian restaurant is, never found one yet.

Funny thing is the place next door to the restaurant is a takeaway that's run by Italians, now that is very nice food but takeaway only.