Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
The formula fits on one line. So do the two mistakes people make — and both of them cost you money.
Which law? This page follows the UK rules (HMRC). Belgium, the Netherlands and France differ — you will find the comparison further down this page.
The VAT sits inside the margin.
That single sentence is where almost every wrong calculation goes astray. Your margin is not an amount you add VAT to — it is an amount that already contains VAT, and you have to take it back out.
Not sure what the margin scheme actually is yet? Start with What is margin VAT? — this page is only about the arithmetic.
A cabinet bought for £500 and sold for £900, at the UK standard rate of 20%.
On that same cabinet, with a margin of £400, the three sums produce very different answers:
Add 20% on top of the margin instead of extracting it, and you hand over roughly £13 too much on every £400 of margin.
The margin splits into two parts: the part that is yours, and the part that belongs to the state. The first is called the taxable base.
Base + VAT = margin. If that sum does not add up, neither does your calculation.
This is where countries part ways, and where most of the advice online will lead you astray — a great deal of it describes the Belgian per-period method, which is not how the UK works.
You settle up item by item: sale price minus purchase price, piece by piece. A loss on one item counts as zero and is not set against the profit on another. This is the ordinary way in the UK.
All purchases and all sales in a period are added up first; only then do you take the difference. In the UK this is an option for high volumes of low-value stock, not the default — unlike Belgium, where per period is the normal scheme.
HMRC puts it plainly: under the Margin Scheme you work out the VAT on each item you sell. Global Accounting exists alongside it, but it is capped at £500 per item and you have to opt into it. gov.uk — VAT margin schemes, measured 31 August 2026.
If you trade in the EU as well, check those rules separately: Belgium runs the opposite way round, per return period by default.
There it starts one step earlier, and that is the part most often missing: below the threshold you pay no VAT at all. You only have to register once your taxable turnover over the last twelve months goes above £90,000, or as soon as you expect to pass it within the next thirty days. Stay below it and you charge no VAT and remit none.
If you are registered, the margin scheme applies to second-hand goods, antiques and collectors’ items: you pay one sixth of your margin — 16.67% — and not on the full selling price. That is the sum worked through above.
Piece by piece. A loss on one piece does not offset the profit on another. In the UK this is the ordinary way.
Per period after all, like the Belgian globalisation: all purchases and all sales are added up first. Meant for high volumes of low-priced pieces — at most £500 per item — and a negative period is carried forward to the next one.
⚠️ Do not carry a Belgian guide over to the UK, and do not carry this one over to Belgium. Here per piece is the rule and per period the exception; in Belgium it is the other way round.
What you enter in Vintro Pro: 20, not 16.67. The program works the VAT out of the margin: 20/120 is exactly that sixth. Enter 16.67 and the figure comes out too low.
Source: gov.uk — when to register and gov.uk — VAT margin schemes. Thresholds and rates change: check them with HMRC or your accountant before you file.
The difference between the two methods only shows up once one piece sells at a loss:
| Item | Purchase | Sale | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| English display cabinet | £100 | £300 | +£200 |
| Bronze figure | £500 | £400 | −£100 |
| Together over the quarter | £600 | £700 | £100 |
Under the Margin Scheme — the ordinary way in the UK — the £100 loss on the bronze counts as zero. You pay on the cabinet only: a margin of £200, so £33.33 of VAT.
Had you opted into Global Accounting, the margin for the period would be £100 and you would owe just £16.67, on a taxable base of £83.33. Half as much. That is the whole point of the option — and the reason to put it to your accountant.
The worked example above is British. The question it asks — can a loss on one piece cancel out a profit on another? — is answered differently in each of the four countries.
That is not a detail. In the example above the gap is worth exactly what you gave away on the piece sold at a loss.
the Margin Scheme runs per item; Global Accounting runs per period
globalisation: the margin is taken per declaration period, not per item
globalisation method, compulsory for furniture, clothing, books, art, antiques and more; a negative margin offsets later periods of the same calendar year
per item by default; globalisation per period allows it
⚠️ Each country draws the line in a different place. Under UK Global Accounting, as under French globalisation, a negative margin rolls into the next period with no year-end cut-off. The Netherlands also works per period for most of this trade — its globalisation method is compulsory for furniture, clothing, books, art, antiques and collectors' items, among others — but a negative margin only offsets later periods of the same calendar year. Belgium recalculates the whole year in its last return period. Put your own situation to your accountant.
Enter the margin goods you sold in this period. Purchase and sale price per item — we will do the rest.
| Total purchases | £0.00 |
| Total sales | £0.00 |
| Taxable base | £0.00 |
| Margin for the period | £0.00 |
This period ends negative. No VAT is due — and nothing comes back to you either. Under UK Global Accounting the shortfall is carried forward to the next period.
A helping hand, not a VAT return. Which method you may apply depends on your country and on what you have agreed with your accountant.
If in one quarter you sell for less in total than you bought for, the margin is negative. No VAT is due — but no money comes back either. A negative margin is not a credit.
What happens next depends on the country. In the UK, under Global Accounting, you carry the negative margin forward to the next period and add it to that period's purchases; HMRC sets no year-end cut-off. Under the ordinary Margin Scheme the question does not arise: a loss on one item simply counts as zero.
In Belgium (Royal Decree no. 53, art. 3) the last return period of the year recalculates the margin over the whole calendar year, and a negative annual figure is not carried into the next year. In the Netherlands a negative margin offsets later periods of the same calendar year. In France it rolls into the next period's purchases. Put it to your accountant before you rely on it.
The formula is the easy part. The real work sits in the records underneath it:
Without a purchase price per item there is no margin to calculate — and so no margin VAT.
Under the margin scheme you do not state the VAT amount separately. The customer sees a single total. The invoice does have to refer to the scheme applied:
"Special scheme — second-hand goods"
In the UK, HMRC requires that the invoice shows no separate VAT amount and makes clear the margin scheme was used. Check the exact wording required in your own country. gov.uk, measured 31 August 2026.
Nobody enjoys redoing this by hand, quarter after quarter.
Vintro Pro keeps the purchase price, sale price and sale date for every item, and turns that into a margin VAT overview for any period you choose. It lists every sold piece with its own margin — which is what the Margin Scheme needs — and totals the period underneath, which is what Global Accounting needs. As a PDF too, ready for your accountant.
Where to find this in the app: the 📦 (stock) tab → 🛠️ Actions → under Reports → 🧾 Margin VAT calculation. Fill in From, Up to and including and your VAT rate, then click Calculate. You get every sold piece with its own margin, and below it Total purchase prices, Total sale prices, Margin, Taxable amount (margin excl. VAT) and the VAT due. If the period ends negative, the screen warns you. One button turns it into a PDF.
No. The margin already includes VAT. At the UK standard rate of 20% you calculate margin × 20/120 — one sixth. On a margin of £100 that is £16.67, not £20.00.
In the UK the Margin Scheme runs per item: you work out the margin piece by piece. Global Accounting totals a whole period instead, but it is an option for low-value stock — capped at £500 per item — not the default. Belgium is the other way round.
Under the globalisation method that loss reduces the profit on your other items in the same period. You count it in, rather than treating it as zero.
No VAT is due, and nothing is refunded either. In the UK, under Global Accounting, you carry the negative margin forward to the next period and add it to that period's purchases. Check this with your accountant.
Vintro Pro tracks the purchase and sale price of every item and has your margin VAT overview ready per period — PDF for your accountant included.