On 21/05/2019 18:01, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 17:00:44 on Tue, 21
May 2019, JNugent remarked:

With Uber (which I have used only twice, neither time in the UK),
theÂ* charges are payable to Uber. If UK VAT applies to their charges
in theÂ* UK, it will have to be paid to Uber, presumably at 20% of
the charge.Â* How Uber divide up the charge (ex-VAT) is up to them,
but all of itÂ* will be liable to the tax if any of it is.

Â*The theory is that with taxi drivers below the £85k VAT limit, they
can't charge their riders VAT.

That's taxi-driving for you.

With Uber, the charge is not paid to the driver (and the drivers are
not taxi-drivers just as the cars are not taxis). The rider's sole
contract is with Uber itself.

Unless Uber is an agency and you are booking with the successfully
bidding driver, and as part of the agency agreement Uber pass your money
to them. Separately charging the driver a commission.

You have more or less described what we might call a "traditional
minicab" (traditional since 1960, that is). The driver gets paid by the
passenger and the driver pays a commission or radio circuit rent to the
operator. The operator's turnover consists of the aggregate of the radio
rent commissions paid to them by the drivers.

But it definitely isn't what happens with Uber. There, the passenger
pays Uber, and Uber pays a part of the charge to the driver. It's 180
degrees the other way round from the Welbeck Minicab model.

*All* of the money is therefore part of Uber's turnover. And that's
before a penny of it reaches the driver, the driver merely being one of
Uber's overheads.

And they turn over more than £85,000 pa.

Yes, that's one of the main ingredients.