Re: VAT rate or VAT amount as a column?

Emily Jones wrote:
> Customers are charged for a service (a training course) and at the moment
> always plus VAT.
>
> At the moment I've got, something like:
>
> CustomerCourse:
> ID, name, ... Fee, Vat
>
> where vat is an amount calculated using the current rate. I'm not storing
> the total, as that's derived.
>
> Maybe I should store the VAT as a %, because the amount is really derived.

If you intend for it to be 'derived', then I think you are also saying that the amount is always derived, never changes. More likely I'd guess, if the % ever changes, then the accounts might have to be re-written, making me think that usually what one would want would be to store the amount. OTOH, if the % REALLY never changes, why bother storing it, just kidding!

> And if I've got the capability to have a different VAT rate for each
> CustomerCourse record, then there's the flexibility that I might need, if,
> for instance there is a reason to charge a particular customer a different
> rate of VAT.

Seems reasonable and likely, if they are in, or say they are in, different countries / tax jurisdictions, some might pay no VAT at all. But for each one, I'd still think you'd want a calculation at a point in time to stand indefinitely.

p Received on Thu Aug 03 2006 - 21:55:39 CEST