School Purchasing for Personal Use

[plexer]

It's not illegal at all as long as the VAT is paid there isn't a problem.

School buy laptop = invoice + school claims back vat.

Schools sells laptop = School generates an invoice and sells it inclusive of vat.

School pays vat to HMRC

Ben

[Gibbo]

Don't Apple do a scheme to allow teachers to buy discounted Macs through the school?

[garethedmondson]

Don't Apple do a scheme to allow teachers to buy discounted Macs through the school?

Tell me more....

Gareth

[glennda]

I tend to get things from my suppliers direct cheap - but i always bacs the money over direct rather then him invoice the school- he still does things cheap for me or pretty much @ his near cost.

[SYNACK]

Don't Apple do a scheme to allow teachers to buy discounted Macs through the school?

As qualifying teachers, in typical Apple fashion theis 'discount' is rubbish though maxing at something like 8%

If you are buying through the school you are commiting fraud as the pricing from most suppliers does not cover personal use only direct purchases by schools. If you are circumventing this you are misrepresenting yourself. Its also dodgey from a tax standpoint as you have to be really careful not to get the school in trouble.

Teachers already get all sorts of deals, usually not to the same degree as a school but quite decent non the less. Discounts that do not extend to some of the lesser paid staff that could do with it even more either... bitter much, yes.

[meadowgirl]

I work for KCC and we get quite a decent discounts package, not just Apple but HP, amazon, asda, also discounts on local stuff and staff club (tho i will never ever go on one, unless its russell howard) shows.

Our school would let us buy through them, but its so much hassle i dont bother.

[Sylv3r]

I think you could get software and I now believe hardware through the RM Basement (not sure if you have to purchase RM hardware).

I also have a feeling our LA used to run a similar scheme to the bike scheme where you could purchase a PC on your payslip prior to the tax reduction.. although I could be wrong and have got the wrong end of the stick but this was a while ago.

[laserblazer]

Staff and students can buy software via the LEA here. It is the same price as the school would pay plus the VAT. I don't know if they can supply hardware in the same way.

[enjay]

Sounds like an admin nightmare for the school, and one from which the school doesn't actually benefit.

Also, I think that the fact that a company offers a discount to an educational establishment doesn't automatically mean they would extend that to staff personal use. I have given staff members contact details of suppliers and said "see what you can negotiate with them", but wouldn't buy stuff through educational suppliers, or even non-educational ones such as ebuyer or Amazon, for staff.

[sjatkn]

Both my current and previous school did not allow you to purchase through the school. This was because (far as I am aware) a member of staff abused the facility by ordering something and then refusing to pay for it, leaving the school out of pocket and with an item which was useless to them.

[Norphy]

As qualifying teachers, in typical Apple fashion theis 'discount' is rubbish though maxing at something like 8%

Last time I bought a Mac, I got a 12% discount because I work in education. When you're buying a £1500 computer, that works out as a £180 discount. Even at 8% it's £120. I don't call that rubbish personally.

I did go into the Apple store to get this discount though, I didn't buy it through the website.

[CAM]

If there is one person you don't want to annoy, it is the taxman. And the discovery that you have been dodging his taxes with educational discounts will get his blood boiling and fingers typing up big, rudely-worded bills for you.

Some suppliers may also have restrictions on their discounts. For example, Microsoft offer Home & Student copies of Office at significantly lower prices and reduced functionality compared to their standard versions. Each is stamped with "For non-commercial use" in the title bar and licence. Likewise a supplier may have "Not for personal use" on their terms and conditions.

You also want to be careful with discounts from suppliers on personal purchases as they may fall foul of no gift rules. Ask your account manager for product advice during your chats with him but you may have to refuse any discounts he offers and never ask for them, paying anything less then full price will leave you open to claims of corruption and gives a less then reputable supplier leverage over you if they want to make you commit to purchases you don't want. Remember, they have a paper trail.

Lastly never ever ever say "Give me a discount or I will stop ordering from you" or you will be out on your ear faster then a Yodel van driving past your house.

[SYNACK]

Last time I bought a Mac, I got a 12% discount because I work in education. When you're buying a £1500 computer, that works out as a £180 discount. Even at 8% it's £120. I don't call that rubbish personally.

I did go into the Apple store to get this discount though, I didn't buy it through the website.

@Norphy - yes but to be honest you live in a country that they give an excrement about, they will rip off NZ/Australians as much as they possibly can, how else can a Mac pro cost 100-200% more in countries with less stringent warrenties. Truth be told they are profitering raceists worthy of the nazi tag like most American businesses, places like HP only wish they could rip off people as badly.

[kylewilliamson]

It is not illegal and the same VAT rules apply as apply to VAT registered businesses. This is how IT supply companies work - they buy in, and sell on. That is all the school does in this case - e.g.: they buy 100 computers and decide to sell one. They decide to sell it to a member of staff. As long as the VAT is charged on the output, and this is reconciled against the school (or LEA)'s VAT return, there is no legal issue. You are not misrepresenting yourself - it is two separate business transactions. With respect of software; it is slightly different. E.g.: software is generally licensed to a school in a non-transferable license (you usually can't sell your copies of Office). That said, if the school bought a normal retail (i.e.: non-educational) copy of Office and sold that on, that would be fine.

However, many schools consider this poor accounting and poor practice. It's possible that if any perceived benefit was obtained for being an employee of the school that this could be considered a taxable benefit. Most suppliers in my experience will happily undertake a separate transaction where the member of staff rings up the supplier and pays with visa/cheque/etc - they get the discount but there is no paperwork trail relating to the school. This is also perfectly legal - as long as it's not a bribe. Company X decides to sell Y to person Z - it is the right of all agreed parties to undertake that transaction, as long as it is not linked to an agreement to buy something else.

Kyle

[hit]

Another point to be careful of is the ownership of the goods. Imagine this scenario...
The school purchases some goods on behalf of a member of staff on 28 day terms. The goods are delivered and sold on to the member of staff, including the VAT to make it nice and legal. However, the ownership of the goods have not transferred to the school as the invoice has not yet been settled to the supplier.
Most suppliers open accouns to schools on a very free and easy basis as they are not re-sellers and therefore no risk of the goods going missing before being paid for. Try to get the same easy terms as a limited company and they want to get bank references before opening an account for you.