On 06/10/2020 15:51, tim... wrote:
He isn't VAT registered !.

so he's committed a fraud by adding 20% VAT onto his invoice

simples

If he writes "+20% VAT" he's committed a crime. If he writes "+ 20%" he
hasn't done anything wrong.

He could make up his invoice as follows and it would be legal, as long
as the materials were VATable at 20%:

Price of materials before VAT: £xx
20% VAT on above: £xx
Labour etc: £xx
Total: £xx

That's because he wouldn't be charging VAT on his gross profit, only
recouping the VAT he'd paid for the materials.

Incidentally I registered for VAT when it first came out in 1973. I had
two VAT inspections in the following forty years. At the first one they
discovered that we'd mistakenly claimed back the VAT on three quid's
worth of postage stamps, so we had to fill a lot of forms in and repay
30p. We were made to feel like the very worst sort of criminal. At the
second inspection the chap couldn't find anything, but on his way out he
looked at my children's treehouse and said, "You need planning
permission for that!"

Bill