VAT: inclusive or exclusive pricing

How your prices are read once you're VAT registered, and where to change it.

1. Not VAT registered? Skip this guide

   If you are not VAT registered, you can ignore this section entirely. The setting only appears once there is a VAT number on your business details. Until then no VAT is charged on anything you send, and every price you type is simply the price.

2. 1. What "inclusive" and "exclusive" mean

   Once you're VAT registered, every price you type, on your price list, in the chat, or on a hand-built invoice, has to mean one of two things:

   Inclusive means the price you type is what the customer pays. If you type R1 000, the invoice totals R1 000, with the VAT already sitting inside that figure. This is how most homeowners expect to be quoted.

   Exclusive means the price you type is before VAT. If you type R1 000, VAT is added on top and the invoice totals R1 150. This is how most businesses, builders and managing agents expect to be quoted.

   Either way, your invoice shows the subtotal, the VAT and the total as separate figures, so the customer can always see exactly how the total was reached.

3. 2. Switching between them

   The setting lives on your Business & invoicing page, under your VAT number. It shows which way your prices are currently read, and a button to switch, with a worked example off your own price list showing exactly what changes before you confirm.

   Switching changes what a saved price bills at from that point on. It never touches an invoice or quote you've already sent: those keep the figures the customer was actually given, whatever you change the setting to afterwards.