vat free

[daveboy]

Hi everybody, has anybody managed to get a electric bike and/or battery
vat free because they are disabled ? Daveboy.

 

[flecc]

VAT free cannot apply to e-bikes, they don't meet the requirements of the scheme

Only a motor vehicle or a legal mobility chair comply.
.

 

[daveboy]

VAT free cannot apply to e-bikes, they don't meet the requirements of the scheme

Only a motor vehicle or a legal mobility chair comply.
.

HI flecc .Thank you for the fast reply.The reason I ask is on the getcycling website Disabled Adult's Cycles | Buy Bikes Online | Get Cycling Online Cycle Shop. they are asking if you want to fill in a
tax declaration form for the sunny comfort drive ???

 

[Old_Dave]

Ahh ... but

Batteries for use by a 'disabled' person can be vat free... some sellers advertise the fact and just require a simple declaration to be filled in on line.

Bikes ... Disabled Adult's Cycles | Buy Bikes Online | Get Cycling Online Cycle Shop

 

[daveboy]

Ahh ... but

Batteries for use by a 'disabled' person can be vat free... some sellers advertise the fact and just require a simple declaration to be filled in on line.

Bikes ... Disabled Adult's Cycles | Buy Bikes Online | Get Cycling Online Cycle Shop

hi old dave would some sellers include 50cycles ???

 

[barrycoll]

yes, my wife is registered 'disabled' as she wears 2 hearing aids, and is classed as 'profoundly deaf', (meaning that she hears everybody else, except me)

because of this classification, she gets free batteries for her aids

cheers baryycoll

 

[flecc]

I'm fairly sure I'm right that strictly speaking the batteries should be for an approved disability item, mobility car or hearing aid for example. I think applying that to e-bike batteries could easily be stopped by HMRC if they thought it worthwhile to pursue, which they probably wouldn't.

 

[Old_Dave]

hi old dave would some sellers include 50cycles ???

I give up ... lol

Give them a call, explain the situation and see what they say.

 

[Scimitar]

When I imported my Chinese wheel kit, I toyed with the idea of claiming exemption from VAT, but it was too much hassle. As time goes by and if I become more decrepit and properly registered as disabled, I'll do it for sure when I buy one.
In other words, you can claim exemption (it's an EU reg) if you're registered disabled on items which would enable your mobility and an electric bike or parts certainly comes under that.

 

[morphix]

Hi everybody, has anybody managed to get a electric bike and/or battery
vat free because they are disabled ? Daveboy.

I raised the issue of VAT on e-bikes and related stuff like batteries, on the grounds they're environmentally friendly and support the governments policy of reducing Co2 emissions.. I suggested that e-bike's and all related parts should be zero-rated/exempt for VAT or reduced to the lower 5% rate... I also argued that charging VAT and Duty on e-bikes and related stuff is counter-productive in their "greener UK economy" and "greener transport" policies as the cost of e-bikes is still prohibitively expensive for many people...more people on e-bikes = more healthier people = less NHS costs = more productive population...etc.. I wrote to the Department of Transport and HMRC, but they said they have no plans to do this. Maybe we just need to lobby harder and more letters to MPs ;-)

 

[Lynne]

I did investigate this, because after all I was buying a pedelec because of my impairment, however found I was not eligible for VAT free bike. It is not considered to be an appropriate disability aid as far as I can see. Did get my bathroom modified VAT free though!

 

[flecc]

In other words, you can claim exemption (it's an EU reg) if you're registered disabled on items which would enable your mobility and an electric bike or parts certainly comes under that.

As you see from both my original post and the last couple, that's not the case Dave, e-bikes are not considered as mobility vehicles and cannot be VAT exempt. Using a kit may open a window for an attempt, since the regulations refer to modified vehicles, though they are referring to motor vehicles which e-bikes are not. I doubt if one would be successful with a kit though, HMRC are very rigid with their interpretation of the rules.

 

[morphix]

As you see from both my original post and the last couple, that's not the case Dave, e-bikes are not considered as mobility vehicles and cannot be VAT exempt. Using a kit may open a window for an attempt, since the regulations refer to modified vehicles, though they are referring to motor vehicles which e-bikes are not. I doubt if one would be successful with a kit though, HMRC are very rigid with their interpretation of the rules.

Yeah I think you would have a hard time convincing them an e-bike or kit falls into the same category as a mobility vehicle..although it could of course.. plenty of people (myself even) cannot walk far with knee or hip problems and yet with an e-bike you can travel miles without pedalling..isn't that a mobility aid then? I expect they assume if you're able to get on and off a bike, move it some distance, and balance on it etc, you must be in a much better state than someone who just sits on one of those mobility vehicles. Or maybe they just haven't caught up with e-bikes yet and don't understand how they useful can be for some disabled or elderly folks!

 

[flecc]

Yes, I'm sure that's it, the perception that any form of cycling needs general fitness, this not helped by the general attitude in Britain that cycling is a sporting and fitness activity.

The HMRC website on the subject of suitable vehicles speaks of sitting in a mobility vehicle, obviously having no concept of possibly using two wheels.

 

[Shroppielass]

Flecc has already identified the regulations regarding VAT and motor vehicles for disabled people.

The rules regarding other items that are zero-rated for VAT in the UK are contained in “Notice 701/7 VAT Reliefs for disabled people” August 2002

Generally speaking the goods have to be specifically designed for the sole use of disabled people. So even if the reason for buying an ebike is a disability that does not make the bike eligible for zero rating.

From HMRC website:
What goods and services can be bought without paying VAT?
If you have a long-term illness or you're disabled, you won't have to pay VAT when you buy any of the following items for your own personal or domestic use:
• medical or surgical appliances designed solely for the relief of a severe abnormality or severe injury
• electrically or mechanically adjustable beds designed for invalids
• sanitary devices, such as commode chairs, commode stools and frames for sitting on or rising from a sanitary appliance
• chair lifts or stair lifts designed for use in connection with invalid wheelchairs
• invalid wheelchairs and invalid carriages
• hoists and lifters designed for use by invalids (this includes ‘lift & tilt’ or ‘riser’ chairs)
• emergency alarm call systems of the type that link you to a specified person or a central control centre
• incontinence products, such as disposable/washable pads and collecting devices
• certain types of auditory aids (but not standard hearing aids)
• certain types of low vision aids (but not spectacles and contact lenses)
• the lease of a Motability vehicle
Also, if you are a wheelchair user, you won’t have to pay VAT on motor vehicles for your own personal or domestic use that are designed or substantially and permanently adapted to enable you to enter and drive, or enter and be carried in the vehicle.

As Lynne has found certain building adaptations to the home are also zero-rated.

I’m surprised to see the electric bikes on the Get Cycling site advertising that they may be free of VAT. I’d have thought its stretching it a bit to say that having a low step through means they are specifically designed for the the sole use of disabled people. I wonder if they’ve cleared it with HMRC.

 

[the_killjoy]

It raises the question, could you get an electric Bike under the mobility scheme ?

 

[flecc]

I's say no, since that is specifically for motor vehicles and e-bikes are bicycles exempt from classification as motor vehicles. HMRC would see it as wanting one's cake as well as eating it.

 

[Scimitar]

I raised the issue of VAT on e-bikes and related stuff like batteries, on the grounds they're environmentally friendly and support the governments policy of reducing Co2 emissions.. I suggested that e-bike's and all related parts should be zero-rated/exempt for VAT or reduced to the lower 5% rate... I also argued that charging VAT and Duty on e-bikes and related stuff is counter-productive in their "greener UK economy" and "greener transport" policies as the cost of e-bikes is still prohibitively expensive for many people...more people on e-bikes = more healthier people = less NHS costs = more productive population...etc.. I wrote to the Department of Transport and HMRC, but they said they have no plans to do this. Maybe we just need to lobby harder and more letters to MPs ;-)

Good grief, you expect joined-up thinking from either the government or its minions?

 

[Scimitar]

As you see from both my original post and the last couple, that's not the case Dave, e-bikes are not considered as mobility vehicles and cannot be VAT exempt. Using a kit may open a window for an attempt, since the regulations refer to modified vehicles, though they are referring to motor vehicles which e-bikes are not. I doubt if one would be successful with a kit though, HMRC are very rigid with their interpretation of the rules.

Irish Customs. Things are open to a different interpretation and when I spoke to a Customs employee about it, she said that if I were registered disabled I could fill in the exemption form (and likely get it). I can't be assed looking it all up again (as it took a fair bit of digging around) but it's an EU reg under some ratified Customs agreement.
However, it doesn't surprise me there's this discrepancy - the UK Customs can be awkward ******s and once they've decided on something, there's no shifting them - look at their Draconian attitude to booze-cruisers and the confiscation of vehicles, for example. It took a sharp rap on their knuckles for them to rescind that.

 

[flecc]

Understood Dave, things could well be different there. As you remark, the intransigence of the UK's HMRC is well known. It was probably a very bad move when the UK government combined the Inland Revenue with Customs and Excise to form HMRC, the tough attitudes of each within their particular spheres combining to give a reinforced harshness of approach.