Hello. I have recently become Treasurer of a charity registered Choral Society and am wondering whether or not to register us for VAT.

Our turnover is well below the £85K threshold which would make it necessary, but we are paying about £2K per year in VAT, which we can ill afford.

We perform 3/4 concerts per year, so we would not need to charge VAT on the tickets, but I am unclear as to whether this makes them Zero Rated, which we be OK, or Exempt, which would mean we could not reclaim VAT on purchases anyway. We also have income from sale of programmes, and for local businesses who pay to advertise in those programmes. We incur VAT on such things as production of the tickets & programmes, publicity, hire/purchase of music, staging, etc.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Rich.