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Why Isn't VAT Displaying Correctly?

Troubleshooting VAT calculations, LCV pricing, and deposit settings on your website's finance calculator.

If you notice that VAT is missing, incorrect, or not displaying separately in your website’s finance calculator, it is almost always due to how the vehicle's tax data is being passed to the iVendi widget.

The iVendi Convert widget relies on specific tags (like vehicle class, VAT qualifying status, and whether VAT is already in the cash price) to calculate and display the correct figures. If even one of these details is missing or incorrect in your stock feed, the calculator cannot perform the calculations correctly.

This guide will show you how to check these settings and get your VAT calculations working perfectly.

Step 1: Check how widespread the issue is

First, check whether this affects:

  • One vehicle: If only one vehicle is incorrect, there is likely a typo or missing VAT flag on that specific vehicle in your DMS or stock system.
  • A specific vehicle type (e.g., LCVs/Vans): If vans and commercial vehicles are displaying incorrectly, the "vehicle class" or VAT rules for commercial stock may need adjusting.
  • All vehicles: If VAT is wrong across your entire site, this points to a global feed integration setting.

Step 2: Check the Vehicle Class

VAT is treated differently depending on whether a vehicle is a car, a motorbike, or a commercial van. Make sure your stock system is categorising the vehicle using one of these standard iVendi classes:

  • car
  • lcv (for Light Commercial Vehicles / Vans)
  • motorbike

This is especially critical for commercial vehicles (LCVs), as lenders and compliance rules often require commercial vehicle calculators to display and treat VAT separately from the consumer finance quote.

Step 3: Verify the "VAT Qualifying" setting

Lenders need to know if a vehicle is "VAT Qualifying" to apply the correct tax calculations. Your stock system must supply this status using the vatQualifying tag:

  • vatQualifying = true: The vehicle is VAT qualifying. VAT calculations can be applied. (Most commercial vans and all brand-new vehicles should be set to true).
  • vatQualifying = false: The vehicle is treated under the "VAT Margin Scheme". VAT will not be calculated separately.
  • Not supplied: If this flag is missing from your stock feed, iVendi will automatically ignore VAT calculations.

Step 4: Is VAT already included in the Cash Price?

To prevent double-charging or under-pricing, the calculator needs to know whether the price sent to iVendi already contains VAT. This is controlled by the vatIncluded tag:

  • vatIncluded = true: The cash price supplied to iVendi already has VAT included.
  • vatIncluded = false: The cash price supplied to iVendi excludes VAT. If the vehicle is VAT qualifying, iVendi will automatically calculate the VAT and add it on top of the displayed price.
  • Not supplied: VAT calculations are ignored.

💡 For Commercial Vans (LCVs) advertised ex-VAT, make sure your stock feed sends:

  • class = lcv
  • vatQualifying = true
  • vatIncluded = false

This specific combination tells the finance calculator to recognise the vehicle as a commercial van, display the ex-VAT price, and add the correct VAT amount separately on top of the cash price.

Step 5: Check how VAT is treated in the Deposit

If the VAT amount itself is correct but the monthly payment or deposit feels wrong, check how your system handles commercial VAT as a deposit. This is controlled by the excludeVatAsDeposit setting:

  • excludeVatAsDeposit = true: VAT is excluded from the deposit. Any deposit entered by the customer is treated as a pure cash deposit.
  • excludeVatAsDeposit = false: VAT is treated as a deposit, with any cash deposit the customer enters added on top.

Step 6: Refresh and retest

Once you or your stock/DMS provider have updated these details in your stock management system, perform a hard refresh (Ctrl + F5 on Windows, or Cmd + Shift + R on Mac) or test in an incognito window to confirm the new tax settings are live on your site.

Still not calculating correctly? Let’s take a look!

If you have verified that your stock system is sending the correct flags, but the website is still displaying VAT incorrectly, our Product Support team can inspect the data feed.

Please email Support@iVendi.com with the following details:

  • Dealership Name
  • Vehicle Registration (VRM)
  • Vehicle Class (e.g., LCV or Car)
  • Does your advertised price include or exclude VAT?
  • What VAT figures you expect to see vs. what is currently displaying
  • The URL of the affected vehicle page
  • Screenshots of the issue, where possible

If you have access to your raw feed code or API settings, please also include the values being passed for: class, cashPrice, vatIncluded, vatQualifying, and excludeVatAsDeposit. We will get your tax settings aligned immediately!