In this Article, we’ll be discussing how you can verify your Wholesaler in the United Kingdom.
Three ways of verifying Wholesale in the UK is to check the affordability of their product price compared to Retail price, to check if they are following the right VAT regulations and if they are VAT registered. We shall be discussing all three points in this Article.
Check the wholesalers product price compared to Retail price rates.
Wholesalers often have cheaper product price rates because they buy products directly from the Manufacturers, they buy products in bulk and often get additional discounts from bulk purchasing.
Therefore, a Wholesaler in the UK will often have cheaper price rates compared to Retailers in the UK. The most obvious way to spot a Wholesaler is the affordability of their product price compared to Retail price rates.
The first obvious sign of differentiating a Wholesaler from a Retailer is the price of the product. Wholesalers generally have a cheaper price rate compared to Retailers.
Check if the UK Wholesaler is following the apporarite VAT regulation
A legitimate UK Supplier will usually follow the appropriate UK VAT regulations.
VAT is a tax on goods used in the UK and is not charged if goods are exported from Great Britain or Northern Ireland to a destination outside the UK.
Therefor if you are purchasing products from a UK supplier for delivery outside Great Britain and Northern Ireland, your Wholesaler is not supposed to charge you any VAT.
On the other hand if you purchase products from a UK Wholesaler for delivery within the UK, your Wholesaler is not required to charge you VAT if you are a VAT registered Business in the United Kingdom and provide your VAT registration number to the Wholesaler.
As a UK VAT registered business customer, you will however, be responsible for accounting for any VAT due on your VAT Return and will be able to recover the VAT as input tax on the same VAT Return under normal VAT recovery rules.
For example if you are a UK Business which purchased products from a UK Wholesaler with VAT of £1,000. The VAT which is on goods you bought for the course of your Business operation is known as input VAT. If you sell taxable products to your Customers, the VAT which you collect from your Customers is called Output VAT. so if you sold products and collected a VAT of £2,000 then £2,000 is your Output VAT.
In this case as a UK VAT registered business, your Wholesaler does not need to charge you any VAT, however you are required to calculate and deduct your input tax (i.e £1,000) minus your Output tax (i.e £2,000). The difference (i.e £1,000) is what you are to remit back to the UK Government.
Check if the Wholesaeller is VAT registered
A legitimate Wholesaler in the United Kingdom will be VAT registered and will be a Business properly registered in the United Kingdom.
You can easily check the Business registration status your Wholesaler in the UK, following the steps we have described in this Article, which is free and can be done entirely online.
You can check the VAT registration status of your UK Wholesaler on the UK VAT number verification webpage
The checks outlined and discussed in this Article can help you verify the legitimacy of your Wholesale supplier in the UK.
