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The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

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Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#21

Post by simonw »

traceroute66 wrote: post #10

This blog post title would be better worded "small business owner is surprised by contract term he signed up for" . I mean, it does say it right there in black and white in the Supplier Contract that he signed up for .... Section 3 CCS - Supplier contract, Reporting Period: "The Supplier must complete an MI Report and return it to CCS by the fifth Working Day of every month during the Term and thereafter until all tr…

At no point did the author suggest that small businesses were surprised by this requirement - just that it's pointless bureaucracy, which it is.

And that's especially ironic since the whole point of the "Low Value Purchase System" is to make selling to government less time-consuming for small businesses!

Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#22

Post by elAhmo »

lowercased wrote: post #5

My spouse did business at a collector show in Illinois years ago. We filed some sales tax thing, as we collected sales tax (as we were told to do) and remitted it. Did that for... 2 years, IIRC, then didn't do that show again. We got letters threatening that we would be penalized if we didn't fill out the form and remit our collected tax. There was no option to say 'nothing'. I mean... we did one year - put 0. Then w…

You can't just start collecting sales tax before registering with the state, and likewise to stop collecting you need to deregister. It is a fairly standard procedures every accountant is aware of.

Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#23

Post by hilariously »

lowercased wrote: post #5

My spouse did business at a collector show in Illinois years ago. We filed some sales tax thing, as we collected sales tax (as we were told to do) and remitted it. Did that for... 2 years, IIRC, then didn't do that show again. We got letters threatening that we would be penalized if we didn't fill out the form and remit our collected tax. There was no option to say 'nothing'. I mean... we did one year - put 0. Then w…

Huh, in my state the secretary of state is where you register a business, and you just go to the website and click "this is no longer operating" and then they stop sending you letters to file your 0 taxes.

Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#24

Post by cucumber3732842 »

lowercased wrote: post #5

My spouse did business at a collector show in Illinois years ago. We filed some sales tax thing, as we collected sales tax (as we were told to do) and remitted it. Did that for... 2 years, IIRC, then didn't do that show again. We got letters threatening that we would be penalized if we didn't fill out the form and remit our collected tax. There was no option to say 'nothing'. I mean... we did one year - put 0. Then w…

Why would they ever fix the system. Some number of people will just pay it and those people are pure profit. Heck, fixing the system costs money.

It's the same evil math behind every other billing scam that sails under the flag of ignorance.

Speaking of ignorance, to all those people saying you forgot to fill out a form, there are several states that are known to be maliciously sloppy about this sort of thing. You file a form and they silently reject it or billing you anyway on some questionable pretext because they can. NY is one of them. Doesn't surprise me that IL is too since both states are kinda cash strapped.

Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#25

Post by traceroute66 »

simonw wrote: post #21
traceroute66 wrote: post #10

This blog post title would be better worded "small business owner is surprised by contract term he signed up for" . I mean, it does say it right there in black and white in the Supplier Contract that he signed up for .... Section 3 CCS - Supplier contract, Reporting Period: "The Supplier must complete an MI Report and return it to CCS by the fifth Working Day of every month during the Term and thereafter until all tr…

At no point did the author suggest that small businesses were surprised by this requirement - just that it's pointless bureaucracy, which it is. And that's especially ironic since the whole point of the "Low Value Purchase System" is to make selling to government less time-consuming for small businesses!

> At no point did the author suggest that small businesses were surprised by this requirement - just that it's pointless bureaucracy, which it is.

Well, they are complaining about having to login monthly to file a zero report.

Yes, I agree its bureaucratic, but that's no excuse for not reading the damn contract !

If they read the contract they signed up to, perhaps they would have decided "fuck that" and not bothered signing up in the first place.

P.S. Reading contracts is a good thing, because I bet this guy also missed all the juicy indemnity and liability clauses, some of which are unlimited for "interesting" things such as unlimited indemnity for third-party Intellectual Property claims against the government related to what you supplied them:

     10.5 If any claim is made against CCS for actual or alleged infringement of a third party’s intellectual property arising out of, or in connection with, the supply or use of the Offered Deliverables (an "IPR Claim"), then the Supplier indemnifies CCS against all losses, damages, costs or expenses (including professional fees and fines) incurred as a result of the IPR Claim.

Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#26

Post by simonw »

traceroute66 wrote: post #25
simonw wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At no point did the author suggest that small businesses were surprised by this requirement - just that it's pointless bureaucracy, which it is. And that's especially ironic since the whole point of the "Low Value Purchase System" is to make selling to government less time-consuming for small businesses!

> At no point did the author suggest that small businesses were surprised by this requirement - just that it's pointless bureaucracy, which it is. Well, they are complaining about having to login monthly to file a zero report. Yes, I agree its bureaucratic, but that's no excuse for not reading the damn contract ! If they read the contract they signed up to, perhaps they would have decided "fuck that" and not bothered…

How do you know they didn't read the contract and know exactly what would be required of them?

Just because it's in the contract doesn't mean you can't complain if it's a stupid waste of time.

Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#27

Post by traceroute66 »

simonw wrote: post #26
traceroute66 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At no point did the author suggest that small businesses were surprised by this requirement - just that it's pointless bureaucracy, which it is. Well, they are complaining about having to login monthly to file a zero report. Yes, I agree its bureaucratic, but that's no excuse for not reading the damn contract ! If they read the contract they signed up to, perhaps they would have decided "fuck that" and not bothered…

How do you know they didn't read the contract and know exactly what would be required of them? Just because it's in the contract doesn't mean you can't complain if it's a stupid waste of time.

> Just because it's in the contract doesn't mean you can't complain if it's a stupid waste of time.

For a start they would be better of complaining to their MP instead of ranting about it on the internet. At least there is a remote chance their MP is in a position to do something about it.

Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#28

Post by calvinmorrison »

lowercased wrote: post #5

My spouse did business at a collector show in Illinois years ago. We filed some sales tax thing, as we collected sales tax (as we were told to do) and remitted it. Did that for... 2 years, IIRC, then didn't do that show again. We got letters threatening that we would be penalized if we didn't fill out the form and remit our collected tax. There was no option to say 'nothing'. I mean... we did one year - put 0. Then w…

Thats OK my county keeps threatening to pickup my dog if i dont get a new license. Maybe they have a special kennel for Urns?

Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#29

Post by rwmj »

So much UK govt bureaucracy could be removed. Like tax returns - they have the data already, just send me a bill, and let me query it if I disagree (like it works in other European countries). Or Making Tax Digital, which incredibly is worse than the previous system. Or VAT registration/returns which my partner has to do, which overlap with MTD and acts like a kind of second tax system.

Re: The UK government's Low Value Purchase System is a waste of time

#30

Post by cjbgkagh »

Closi wrote: post #7

Their medium value purchase system is a waste of time too - I work for a small business that does government contracts and you have to pay the government just for the pleasure of bidding for contracts. Then every bid has it's own unique weird things, where often you are told who you are bidding against and sometimes even how much the government wants to pay! The scorecards are often weird, will do things like ask you…

I had an invitation to bid on a government contract that needed local diversity certifications that would cost a bunch of money just to apply. They also had a scale down provision to basically nothing so even if we won there is no guarantee that the contract would cover the cost of certifications. We have list pricing so they wanted us to jump through these hoops and still give them the standard rate. We passed, but if this is our future we’ll have to stop doing list pricing and start charging 5x to 10x extra to cover the hassle of dealing with them.
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