The decision by government to require businesses in law to display VAT through VAT Inclusive Pricing is turning out at this stage to cause the following significant problems: #1 - Widespread confusion, because consumers are not certain of what is supposed to happen at Point of Sale (the register) based on the sticker price on the item. #2 - The potential for being charged VAT twice at the register. Depending on how a business Point of Sale system is set up, if the register rings out an item with the price on the VAT Inclusive sticker AS IS, but the system is set up to charge 7.5% on whatever comes up as the subtotal, consumers will end up being charged VAT twice, because the sticker price is supposed to already have the 7.5% included. #3 - Limiting consumers ability to track and make sense of what is happening with their purchases, because every business place has a different Point of Sale system, which means receipts and the way they show VAT and the VAT Inclusive Prices would be different from store to store. This robs consumers of having a set point of reference so they know exactly what their receipt is supposed to show and how VAT is supposed to be split out on their receipt. #4 - Limiting consumers ability to hold businesses accountable for what they are charging. If a Point of Sale system does not split out VAT in a way that shows how VAT is being charged ON EACH INDIVIDUAL ITEM PURCHASED, and only shows a single column of prices with a VAT charge at the bottom, customers cannot know if they are being overcharged on the VAT price or calculation of VAT. The government has had many meetings with BUSINESSES, but WHAT ABOUT THE CONSUMERS? This radical decision changes the entire way Bahamians shop, because when you shop, there should never be confusion about the price on a sticker and the figure that shows up on a receipt or that shows up on a cash registers display as the item is being cashed out. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES IF STICKER PRICES WERE LEFT AS THEY ARE, AND VAT IS SIMPLY CHARGED AT THE POINT OF SALE ON THE TOTAL VALUE OF GOODS OR SERVICES PURCHASED.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 01:46:47 +0000
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