Charitable status and private schools

maddyone

We have to accept that this is simply not about money. It’s ideological.

Indeed.

Will the Government be exempt from paying VAT on boarding school fees for children of service personnel
The boarding school chunk can not be subject to VAT for any child because it comes under "welfare".
The irony of course is that boarders usually attend the wealthiest of schools who won't suffer anyway. It is the smaller day schools who are more concerned about this.

ronib

Well my vote is going to the party which is economically literate and I am under no illusions about Starmer. Show me the evidence.

Do you want to see the economic record of past Labour governments in power compared with the Tories?

maddyone

We have to accept that this is simply not about money. It’s ideological.

I think you are correct

We have to accept that this is simply not about money. It’s ideological.

Well my vote is going to the party which is economically literate and I am under no illusions about Starmer. Show me the evidence.

ronib

I would love to see the figures Casdon.

He won’t reveal his hand at this stage ronib, there’s no advantage to his election chances in doing so, is there?

I don’t think it’s about money ronib, I think it’s ideological. Many people in the Labour Party (not all) dislike the idea of independent schools, although they are okay with using selective schools in the state sector such as the ones Tony Blair used.

The last Labour manifesto was fully costed, so will this be.

I would love to see the figures Casdon.

ronib

Well let’s hope Starmer has fully costed his policy ….. but of course he hasn’t. It’s all in the rhetoric …..and that’s just one policy.
It’s time to ask the hard questions.

He will have all the angles covered I suspect. If ever there was a PM in waiting who believed that time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted, it’s Starmer.

Well let’s hope Starmer has fully costed his policy ….. but of course he hasn’t. It’s all in the rhetoric …..and that’s just one policy.
It’s time to ask the hard questions.

They may be working several jobs to achieve that excess Grantanow - just to give their child what they believe to be the best education, having maybe received little education themselves,

ronib

And LizzieDrip parents with their own companies might be able to pay school fees through their company and reclaim 20 percent VAT so interesting times ahead.
After all the State pays for children of diplomats etc to be educated at boarding schools so can’t see why creative accountants can’t dream up new schemes for companies…. particularly where parents are employed overseas.

Will the Government be exempt from paying VAT on boarding school fees for children of service personnel, those whose parents are posted abroad by the Government etc?
Or will there be a complicated system of one department reclaiming it from another department, ending up costing three times as much as the VAT?

If they have an 'excess', of course.

Nannashirlz

Rich ppl aren’t posh they just have a bit more money than most of us. You should never judge a person by their personal choices. My granddaughter goes to a private school the local school is absolutely shocking and she is so advanced for age. military families get 90 percent paid for from the military. My granddaughter is no longer part of the military family her parents now pay for her. Yes she got some posh friends with very big houses but they don’t treat my son and his wife any differently.

Military families MAY have got 90% of the fees paid if they searched hard for the cheapest schools A convent school in which I taught years ago offered boarding with very limited other facilities at a little over the army contribution at the time.
The girls would amuse themselves in the evening by running up and down carrying a railway sleeper OR a more enterprising one managed to pick the lock to the laboratory where she set up a business ( using a kilt pin and Bunsen burner) piercing the girls' ears.
Most Forces Parents paid 50%^ of the fees in schools where the children were somewhat better provided for

I don’t know if anyone realises but very wealthy families also avail themselves of full State education provision.
Also able to send children to Oxbridge to postgraduate level….. from the local comprehensive.
Quite a moral maze isn’t it?

People choose to spend their excess in ways up to them, if the costs go up because of tax status, people can work that into their plans. All choices.

Yes, the wealthy will always find loopholes that aren’t open to the rest of us.

And LizzieDrip parents with their own companies might be able to pay school fees through their company and reclaim 20 percent VAT so interesting times ahead.
After all the State pays for children of diplomats etc to be educated at boarding schools so can’t see why creative accountants can’t dream up new schemes for companies…. particularly where parents are employed overseas.

Touché LizzieDrip, exactly what I have been saying is happening.

The slightly tricky bit is the unknown in terms of parents' reactions, but if the school keeps its "customers" in the know and on board then I'm sure it will all work out just fine.

I’ve just looked up what VAT registered schools would be able to reclaim VAT on - and it’s a significant number of goods and services. So, why will private schools need to pass on the whole 20% VAT levy to parents, thereby increasing fees? With the amount of VAT they’ll be able to reclaim, they might end up ‘status quo’ financially. So, storm in a teacup, methinks! I still believe they should have to pay VAT though, following the same procedures as other businesses; claiming back where appropriate. I’m sure private schools have got EXCELLENT accountants who are crunching the numbers as we speak, to ensure their wealthy clients don’t suffer!

The concept of 'choice' in a mixed economy democracy is very misleading. Most people don't have the money to choose public/private schools or private medical care or the very best care/nursing home so they don't have a real choice. Of course, there are some examples in which parents can just afford it if they go short on essentials, can call on help from grandparents or their employer contributes but for the vast majority those options don't apply. The Tories don't care about that.

MaizieD but then of course all VAT registered businesses are able to recover the VAT which they have paid … so I guess there might be some careful calculations to be made. There might be a profit to the public schools under this new accounting system ?

Anyone who considers penalising private education should take a long hard look at the general group of people using these schools and why.

The fundamental reason why there is a difference between what state and private schools can do is funding. It all boils down to money.

Fund state schools to the same level as private and then see what happens.

Of course, a complete subversion of the meaning of 'charity' doesn't help.