VAT stands for Value Added Tax, and the government applies it to most but not all products and services sold in the UK.

If you are disabled, you won’t need to pay VAT on certain products such as:

• mobility equipment
• batteries for mobility equipment
• home and car adaptations
• alarms
• repairs and maintenance of mobility equipment, aids or adaptations

The current VAT rate is a whopping 20%, so you could make a significant saving off some purchases.

You can find more information here: www.gov.uk/financial-help-disabled/vat-relief.

VAT relief for disabled people

If you’re disabled or have a long-term illness, you will not be charged VAT on products designed or adapted for your own personal or domestic use. Also, you will not be charged VAT on:

• the installation and any extra work needed as part of this
• repairs or maintenance

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, for example blindness
• you have a condition that’s treated as chronic sickness, like diabetes
• you’re terminally ill

You do not qualify if you’re elderly but not disabled, 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.

Help from your council

You can apply to your council for equipment or help to adapt your home if you have a disability.