VUE charge VAT but Prometric don't?

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Just reading another thread where Phoenix mentioned this (http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=4865&page=1&pp=15):

If this is true then it has serious cost implicatons for those of us who are paying for exams out of our own hard-earned cash.

In the last few months I've taken four exams with Pearson VUE and paid VAT on all of them:
£88 +VAT = £103.40 for MS exams
£166 + VAT = 195.05 for CompTIA Security+

That's around £75 of VAT that I needn't have paid! Luckily, I have my exams paid by a VAT registered company (for the ones I pass).

Am I missing a trick here?

z.

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

That's about the long and short of it! I, too, was in blissful ignorance until a recent debarcle had me switch vendors (Long story - but it wasn't Vue's fault) because Prometric had some vacant spaces at my test centre during the period I wanted to sit the exam.

 

I havn't ever sat an exam with Vue, so I cant really go into more detail, and i'm not a VAT accoutnant so dont hold what I say as truth, but the only way I can see prometric not charing VAT on an exam is that its

a) not required by law
or
b) its an offshore company, however these rules have been changed recently, and as far as I am aware VUE isnt UK based either!

So again, perhaps a more reputable source can comment on these findings hehe

and i lie in that last thread, I do recall actually paying over 100 quid for MS exams in the past (circa NT4 MCSE era) so perhaps prometric did used to charge VAT, that or the exams were more pricey! cant say i can find any reciepts from that far back!

 

Whenever Vue phone me it's definitely a number from abroad... +31 which if I recall correctly is the Netherlands?

 

Prometric numbers also route over to the netherlands
as I'm always talking to some nice dutch person when booking exams hehe

 

That's handy to know - I had a call from abroad last night but they hung up after 2 rings (and I am NOT calling them back!) and was afraid it was Prometric to cancel my next exam!! It wasn't a Dutch call so I guess I'm OK....

 

The two exams I took recently were both with VUE and I didn't pay VAT, (well technically I may have). I used a voucher that I bought on an American website called GetCertified4Less. The regular price from VUE was £100 + Vat (so £117.50). The voucer price (for A+) from GetCertified was $130.00 US, which worked out at about £70.00. Quite a reduction really. I put the code in at the point where you normally pay and it reduced the price to zero.

I'm not sure how much you can save when purchasing MS vouchers from them, but it's bound to be cheaper than the regular UK price.

They also sell fast expiring vouchers on the site, but I have only seen these for US based testing centers so far, not for UK. If you are ready for your test and you keep an eye on the website, you could make a huge saving getting one of those.

 

Just checked, the UK voucher price for any MS exam from the site I mentioned is $160.00 US, so about £86.00. Not sure how that compares to the going rate in the UK, or what VUE charge directly.

 

Microsoft Exams are £88 with Prometric. Vue are £88 + vat (£103.40 total). I guess the £2 saving would get me a can of fizzy water and a packet of crisps for the train ride home....

 

Hmm they were 84 when I last sat one in Nov :P
bloody inflation!

TBH we've had a few horror stories from some of the voucher sites, as well as some good stories, it may well be worth you spending the extra 2 quid though ;)

 

Well the discount was significant for the A+ vouchers, but seems to be negligble for MS exams. I'm not sure I can be bothered registering with Pro Metric since I'm already on with VUE, so I'll stick with the vouchers for the mo.

As for the bad experiences with vouchers from websites, any in particular to avoid?

 

No you are not!

The VAT rules and the Internet are REALLY complex (if you have a spare 24 hours and enjoy that sort of thing then I'd happly update you!)

As an "end user" all you are interested in the the Gross payment. If you company are VAT regesterd then they will want VUE VAT number to reclaim the VAT