Question for you clever people about VAT.
just been on line and ordered a new walk in shower and a couple of other bits for bathroom.
Hubby told me I had been charged almost £150
I thought I wouldn’t have to pay VAT,or can I claim it back. Hubby did tell the lady in the phone I was disabled.
TIA
lynn xx
Hi Lynn
Have a look at Financial help if you're disabled: VAT relief for disabled people - GOV.UK
Goods and services that are supplied because of a disability are zero rated for VAT. But it seems that often you have to go the extra mile to get the VAT back, or avoid paying it in the first place.
If your installer is not themselves registered for VAT, it can get a bit complicated. Recently for e.g., I had a ramp put in up to my front door; the whole porch was reconfigured (floor raised, doors moved and widened). There were some bits which we managed to pay the supplier direct for which we managed to have zero rated (primarily windows and doors). But the chap who did the work is not himself registered for VAT. So his services were exclusive of VAT anyway. Some of his supplies of course were paid for by him and included VAT. Unless we wanted to get very very complicated, we just had to swallow that.
When we used a bigger company to install our bathroom and kitchen, they were much better informed and were set up for getting as much VAT free as possible. For example, they claimed back the VAT on our oven because it was higher than if it was a freestanding cooker (back in the days when I cooked). They were a little bit cheeky in a way, the things they got VAT free. But then it’s nothing to them, the VAT you pay them isn’t anything to do with their profits. They just offset VAT paid to them against their general VAT payment.
So it can take a bit of fiddling round, but ultimately you can find a form in the .gov site to claim the VAT back from the supplier, unless that is, they have a form of their own.
Sue
Could you not phone them back and explain, and ask for a new invoice minus the vat? Just a thought.
Thanks guys. I’ll ring the company in the morning and ask about the VAT