VAT relief for disabled people
If you’re disabled or have a long-term illness, you won’t be charged VAT on products designed or adapted for your own personal or domestic use. Also, you won’t be charged VAT on:
- the installation and any extra work needed as part of this
- repairs or maintenance
- spare parts or accessories
The product and your disability have to qualify.
Qualifying products or services
Your supplier can tell you, but usually products designed or adapted for a disability qualify. For example, certain types of:
- adjustable beds
- stair lifts
- wheelchairs
- medical appliances to help with severe injuries
- alarms
- braille paper or low vision aids – but not spectacles or contact lenses
- motor vehicles – or the leasing of a motability vehicle
- building work like ramps, widening doors, installing a lift or toilet
How to get the product VAT free
To get the product VAT free your disability has to qualify. For VAT purposes, you’re disabled or have a long-term illness if:
- you have a physical or mental impairment that affects your ability to carry out everyday activities, eg blindness
- you have a condition that’s treated as chronic sickness, like diabetes
- you’re terminally ill
You don’t qualify if you’re elderly but able-bodied, or if you’re temporarily disabled.
You’ll need to confirm in writing that you meet these conditions. Your supplier may give you a form for this.
