I see this misunderstanding over VAT in this and other posts on this subject. To be clear, VAT registered entities do not pay VAT in the fashion you imply. VAT

I see this misunderstanding over VAT in this and other posts on this subject. To be clear, VAT registered entities do not pay VAT in the fashion you imply. VAT is due on a VAT invoice. Companies usually do not do business with sources that are not VAT registered. It is a round robin scheme for VAT registered entities. Simple example. Month one, Google sells a tablet. Customer pays VAT. Google gives VAT income to HMRC ( once per quarter ). Month two, Google sells a tablet. Google buys goods plus VAT. Google subtracts VAT out from VAT in. HRMC pays Google if amount is negative. Google pays HMRC if amount is positive. This month Company X paid more VAT on stationary than they collected from sales. In this case they get a refund from HMRC. In no case does Google pay VAT. Nor does any other VAT registered entity. The entities that pay VAT are those who are not VAT registered. Those that are VAT registered are collectors for HMRC. Google, Starbucks, Amazon have never paid VAT. They have at most passed on VAT payments made by their customers.