Vat free mobility scooter batteries?

mandyboops1973

Hi i have just purchased a mobility scooter second hand that requires new batteries as the current ones are old and dont last as long as they should.

I have been looking on ebay and found some that match the ones in my scooter, there are two sellers selling them one offers a vat refund for disabled people but the other which is cheaper didint advertise the vat refund for disabled people so i sent a message asking if they offered this and they said they know nothing about it.

I was just wondering if i can sort out the vat refund myself or is this something the seller has to do? because this seller is selling the batteries new much cheaper than the place that offers the vat refund.

JasonLVC

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageImport_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000184&propertyType=document

Paragraph 4.8 is the bit you'll be interested in.

Basically, if the battery is designed solely for a mobility scooter then the seller, if they are VAT registered, can zero rate (ie, charge no VAT), if you advise the seller you are registered disabled.

If the battery is a generic car battery, then the zero rating will not apply and the seller, if VAT registered will have to charge VAT. This all hinges on whether the battery is 'designed soley for..' or is not.

In your particular circumstance, you may be dealing with two sellers, one is VAT registered and the other is not. Or, one seller may just not know that they can zero rate their battery.

I think the first question to ask of the cheaper seller is if they are VAT registered or not. If they are, then perhaps you can advise them to look at HMRC Notce 701/7 (the link above) and see if they'll reduce the price further. It may be that they are just nopt VAT registered so these rules wouldn't apply to them anyway.....or it may be that they consider the battery they are selling to not be a unique battery to a mobility scooter and so may choose to charge VAT to be on the safe side (and is their right to do so, even if it means losing a sale).

Hope that helps.