reclaiming vat

drzoidberg

hi, a friend of mine is about to buy new carpets/laminate for throughout his new built house. can he reclaim the VAT on the carpets as it is for a new house? if so how would he go about it? hope this is in the correct place and sorry if it's not!

furndire

No, but he would have been able to claim for laminate or wooden flooring. You only get one bite of the cherry with reclaiming the vat when you have completely finished building. It covers anything that are permanent fixture/fittings to the build. Plus of course you don't pay vat on labour costs. Last time we built, I needed the cash I had tied up, and ended up claiming too early, so lost money on some of the stuff that we later put in.

drzoidberg

is there a difference between soft and hard flooring for vat then?

furndire

I think it is because you can't really take up a laminate/hard wood floor, but you can take up a carpet. I suppose carpets would be in the same category as curtains.

Petmidget

The 0 rating for new build related only to the fabric of the building and is very specific in what you can cant claim.

For eg, a fitted kitchen with inbuilt appliances yes, fitted with removable appliances no.

Search the vat section of HRMC for information on self build 0 rating. The list will be exhaustive, as vat has a tendency to go into ridiculously minute detail.

roger56

Carpets - No
Wooden floors - Yes (see section 8.10 of HMRC notice 719)

HMRC Notice 719 has all the facts on selfbuild VAT refunds, here it is:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000150&propertyType=document

Some useful tips:
http://www.selfbuildabc.co.uk/building/self-build-finance-vat.htm

- Remember you can only claim once on any self build.
- All receipts must be valid ORIGINAL VAT receipts.
- Tradesmen/builders services should should be VAT zero rated, if they bill
you the VAT then you'll have to return to them to get it back as it is classed as incorrectly charged VAT.

Anyhow, Notice 719 gives you all the facts - enjoy!!

furndire

I hadn't seen the second address site before thanks a lot, very helpful.