The Director General of the BHTA has urged mobility scooter vendors and suppliers to be cautious when working out the VAT on their products.
Speaking on Wednesday, Ray Hodgkinson described how some suppliers are coming unstuck due to a blanket policy of selling class 3 mobility scooters with a zero VAT rating. He stressed that these scooters are only eligible for a zero rating if they are designed for the œsole use of people who are ˜chronically sick or handicapped.
œIf you dont know, or if the manufacturer/importer of the products you sell has not had a ruling, the only safe thing to do is charge VAT, regardless of who is buying the product, he continued.
"If you dont you could find yourself caught out by the VAT man, as has just happened to one BHTA member, who now faces a £ 10,000 back bill.
So, even if the buyer of a mobility scooter is registered disabled and has all the correct paperwork, it is up to the manufacturers to get signed off by the HMRC to produce zero VAT rated class 3 scooters.
By Help Mobility Team