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BHost - £4.46 512MB OpenVZ VPS Exclusive Offer

BHost Nick from BHost emailed me a new coupon code as their previous exclusive offer has expired. Same offer — use LOWENDBOX2010A to get 20% off recurring discount. Unfortunately V.A.T. is payable to those even outside U.K. as service is supplied there (okay, tax sux). So it comes down to £4.46/month which is roughly USD$7 for their “Bronze” package.

  • 512MB guaranteed/1024MB burstable memory
  • 20GB storage
  • 1000GB/month data transfer on 100Mbps
  • OpenVZ/SolusVM

Servers are with RapidSwitch in UK. Company established since 2002 and has pretty good feedbacks from their previous offer.

LEA
Latest posts by LEA (see all)

36 Comments

  1. innya:

    It is 0.54 pound more than offer from a month ago.

    January 25, 2011 @ 11:59 pm | Reply
  2. yeah vat is suck. 0.54 pound tha willbe 7 pound a year

    January 26, 2011 @ 12:21 am | Reply
  3. The cost from the previous offer did not include VAT. Not to mention VAT has increased to 20% in UK now. It’s actually the same discount — 20%.

    January 26, 2011 @ 3:33 am | Reply
  4. Daniel @ LowEndTalk.com:

    They should claim that they are school clothes, then you don’t pay VAT.

    January 26, 2011 @ 7:25 am | Reply
    • Dean:

      And if someone finds out? :3

      January 26, 2011 @ 9:31 am | Reply
    • John:

      Or food. I’ll help with the cover up. There’s nothing more delicious than a VPS.

      January 26, 2011 @ 10:16 am | Reply
  5. Michael Sage:

    Can’t recommend this company enough. Great service, fast response and quick setup. I opted for the slightly “beefier” bhost offering for £6.90 a month. Couldn’t be happier with a lowendbox thou!

    January 26, 2011 @ 1:44 pm | Reply
  6. Regrettably we’ve had a slight tax rise effective 4th January – a 2.5% increase. Hopefully we’re still great value!

    January 26, 2011 @ 9:30 pm | Reply
  7. They should NOT be charging VAT unless it’s an EU Resident purchasing. They are not allowed to be charging VAT to non-EU residents…. VAT is the Tax the company pays when EU residents purchase (20% for UK residents and 19% for other EU residents) and is not imposed on them when they are purchasing from outside the EU.

    That is of course if bHost are VAT registered.

    January 26, 2011 @ 10:18 pm | Reply
    • To add – I do not doubt they they are but it’s not as if they pay VAT… if they are VAT registered then they will be able to claim back (not pay) VAT on any of their purchases. So it seems wrong to charge the non-EU customers.

      My $0.02.

      January 26, 2011 @ 10:19 pm | Reply
      • We’re just getting clarification from our tax advisers on these circumstances.

        January 27, 2011 @ 1:23 pm | Reply
        • Francisco:

          From the link “United Kingdom Value Added Tax (VAT)” at bhost.net’s site:

          http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/managing/international/exports/services.htm

          Whenever you supply services, then for VAT purposes, it is essential to know the ‘place of supply’. This determines which country’s VAT rules should be used and how you have to account for the VAT on the sale.

          If you are supplying services abroad, then the place of supply is not always obvious.

          This guide explains the rules you must use to work out the place of supply of services.

          The general rule for working out the place of supply of services (apart from those covered by special rules)

          You supply services to a: business customer
          The place of supply is: the place where the customer belongs

          You supply services to a: non business customer
          The place of supply is: the place where the supplier belongs

          —-

          January 27, 2011 @ 3:02 pm | Reply
        • Daniel @ LowEndTalk.com:

          The fact that Francisco knows about UK TAX is impressive, If your the Francisco from BuyVM

          January 27, 2011 @ 4:15 pm | Reply
        • Christian:

          @Daniel He just looked a round a bit and copied the rules from a UK government website.

          January 27, 2011 @ 6:15 pm | Reply
        • Francisco:

          Sorry if I was not clear. The link to the UK government website about VAT I found under VPS->Sales Info tab in the bhost.net’s site. The text posted is just an excerpt from that government site.

          January 28, 2011 @ 11:38 am | Reply
        • Miles:

          Yeah, in my experience we’ve never had to charge vat to NON-EU customers. very odd.

          January 29, 2011 @ 11:08 pm | Reply
    • Daniel @ LowEndTalk.com:

      People can use proxies/vpns to skip VAT then, its better to be safe then sorry.

      January 27, 2011 @ 8:04 am | Reply
    • Christian:

      Not 19% VAT for other residents, it depends on the EU country for example Luxemburgians are charged 15%, people of Denmark, Sweden and Hungary are charged 25% VAT.

      January 27, 2011 @ 12:43 pm | Reply
  8. I just signed up on their old offer, using the 20% discount on the Gold package. Very impressed with the roundtrip pings (better than Burstnet EU by a whisker), and setup was very quick.

    I asked them to enable TUN/TAP and it was done within 5 minutes.

    As an aside, can anyone let me know WHY TUN/TAP is good to have enabled?!

    January 28, 2011 @ 10:32 am | Reply
    • LOL, if I’m correct, you asked for tun tap without knowing what is? xD

      Well, is a kernel module used to enable virtual network interfaces to create private networks, openVPN is the most common. I use hamachi, is easier.

      January 30, 2011 @ 12:10 am | Reply
  9. Francisco:

    BTW I never had to pay VAT before.

    January 28, 2011 @ 11:41 am | Reply
  10. Charlie:

    How does this work out at £4.46?

    The prices quoted are £4.90 ex VAT, and £5.88 inc VAT.

    Less 20%, I make that £3.92 ex VAT, and £4.70 inc VAT.

    January 29, 2011 @ 11:47 am | Reply
    • Yeah I couldn’t figure out how £4.46 figure came about as well, except it is what’s shown on the invoice :) On the order summary it says:

      Package: £4.90
      VAT: £0.74
      Discount: £1.18
      Total: £4.46

      January 30, 2011 @ 12:05 pm | Reply
      • Charlie:

        Ah, ok then.

        So it looks like on your invoice they calculated the Discount as if 20% VAT was applied, but actually charged the VAT at 15%.

        UK VAT rate is 20% (the Co. is UK registered, I checked), but in any case it doesn’t look right either way to use two different rates… Maybe if this post saves them an embarrassing moment with HRMC they’ll offer me a free box? :-P

        January 30, 2011 @ 6:16 pm | Reply
  11. Lawrie:

    I signed up yesterday and my first invoice came to £4.46 including VAT.

    January 29, 2011 @ 12:58 pm | Reply
    • Miles:

      Sounds like a mistake…

      January 29, 2011 @ 11:07 pm | Reply
  12. Hulk:

    When will this coupon expire?

    Thanks.

    January 30, 2011 @ 8:56 am | Reply
  13. Francisco:

    It seems Bhost doesn’t offer money back guarantee. Too bad.

    January 31, 2011 @ 12:35 pm | Reply
  14. Just to update you all:

    1. The coupon LOWENDBOX2010A will continue to work until end of February.

    2. We’re working with our tax advisers to gain final clarification with regards to the VAT and non-EU customers. Further updates shortly. If necessary, we will refund any tax we should not have charged. The guidance from the UK tax authority, HMRC, is somewhat complex and we have received conflicting advice on this specific matter.

    3. I have worked out the problem with the discount code. The code was actually giving 24% off, when it should have been 20%. So for the Bronze package for example:

    Base price: £4.90
    With 24% discount: 3.72
    20% VAT on £3.72: £0.74
    Total: £4.46

    We’ve decided to leave the discount rate at 24% until the coupon expires at the end of February.

    4. Apologies to our customers for any confusion. Just email us at accounts@BHost.net with any specific queries and we’ll be happy to help.

    January 31, 2011 @ 12:57 pm | Reply
  15. Gsip:

    Got the bronze package today. Instant setup. Asked for tun to be enabled, with a quick response. Great customer service. Network is very nice :)

    February 7, 2011 @ 11:28 pm | Reply
  16. Lewis:

    Went for the bronze package… quick setup, good correspondence, great service!

    February 8, 2011 @ 5:37 pm | Reply
  17. Tavis:

    Hi,
    Just a quick question. Does the discounted price keep rolling or will it rise, and also, if I pay annually, will the annual price roll or will it rise at the end of the contract?

    Thanks

    February 9, 2011 @ 12:07 am | Reply
    • The discount is rolling i.e. applies indefinitely. This is true whether you pay month by month or annually.

      February 9, 2011 @ 2:17 pm | Reply
  18. Jonny @ Evorack:

    Have a look here:

    http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD1_029955&propertyType=document#P596_73899

    and look at Section 14.3 “What is the place of supply of my services if my customer belongs outside the EC?”. This section will refer you to Section 15, which includes “Web Hosting” services (which is pretty much the same as VPS hosting services as far as VAT is concerned).

    Bottom line, I don’t think VAT is chargeable to customers outside of the EU, with regards to VPS services.

    February 17, 2011 @ 11:24 pm | Reply
  19. All non-EU customers are eligible for a rebate on any VAT unnecessarily paid – they just need to log a support ticket stating they are a non-EU customer and we’ll arrange everything.

    March 7, 2011 @ 1:54 pm | Reply

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