personal bank account

Hi, I am having some work done by a plumber round my house and he is charging me vat on his services, but he has told me to pay into a personal account, is he allowed to do this? I think he may be charging vat but not passing it on. is there anyway to tell?

Hi killbillr1,
If a VAT registered business is charging you VAT then they need to account for this VAT and pay HMRC.
However, we can't speculate where this payment is made ,as long as the supplier accounts for this VAT on their VAT return.
Thank you.