Register for VAT or not?

My wife and I have registered a company as a market-stall food vendor.
Met with an accountant who advised us that it may not be in our interests to register for VAT to get a VAT number...
At least not for the first couple of years.

But when purchasing, (i'm trying to bulk purchase an agricultural product that is zero vat rated) I'm finding that these companies insist I provide a VAT number.

Anyway around this?

You could try giving them your company tax number. In most cases, if you did register for Vat, the same number would be used by Revenue.
Would there actually be vat on the items your company is selling? Many food items are zero rated. If not, the argument that you are dealing mostly with the end customer rather than business clients, and would have to charge higher prices due to Vat, doesn't hold.
In addition, you would be able to lower your costs by reclaiming the input vat on business purchases. It is more hassle, but could be economically the right thing to do.

Gervan said:

You could try giving them your company tax number. In most cases, if you did register for Vat, the same number would be used by Revenue.

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Would that number suffice for an EU supplier that is requiring our VAT number?

Gervan said:

Would there actually be vat on the items your company is selling?

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No.

Gervan said:

In addition, you would be able to lower your costs by reclaiming the input vat on business purchases. It is more hassle, but could be economically the right thing to do.

Click to expand...

But the accountant advised us against it, at least for the first couple years. Once VAT registered, always VAT registered. So we'd have to be sure that it's worth it.