FOIA on silver VAT

[bored]

I have just done a freedom of information request to find out how much VAT & CGT HMRC have collected over the last 10 years on silver.

It took a little searching but the email is foi.request@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

and the address is 

HMRC Freedom of Information Team 
S1715, 6th Floor, Central Mail Unit 
Newcastle Upon Tyne 
NE98 1ZZ 

[silversky]

Well done for making the effort.  It will be interesting to find out.  I'm sure the VAT will turn out to be pitiful.  Anyone who has been buying more than small amounts has been buying from the continent and will simply continue to do so by vaulting in Europe if required to avoid the unjustified 20%.  Hopefully the info will justify a call to abolish vat on silver and promote the UK as a silver trading hub after Brexit   I can but dream.

[Goldhooked]

It will be interesting to see their answer but I’m not sure they will have a breakdown of it.  My company is VAT registered and we sell all sorts of things but when I do my VAT returns I don’t provide a breakdown of how much VAT relates to each different item.  It just includes figures for turnover, expenses and total VAT owed.

If I started selling tons of silver, HMRC would have no idea how much VAT relates to the silver as opposed to all the other items I sell.

I don’t know if precious metal dealers are required to give a more detailed breakdown on their VAT returns but I doubt it.  So when they pay their quarterly VAT I doubt HMRC know what proportion relates to silver.  I suppose a good proportion of it will be related to silver what with gold being VAT free but I’m sure they sell other items that attract VAT.

The only way I could see them being able to match any specific VAT amounts to silver would be for imports from outside of the EU as they might have the figures recorded against the commodity codes used on the customs forms.

[bored]

worth an annoying email though.

 

[Goldhooked]

20 minutes ago, bored said:

worth an annoying email though.

 

Definitely.  Will be interesting to see how they wiggle out of a straight answer!

[bored]

Apparently they are "on it"