If you are disabled or chronically ill, you should not be paying VAT on much of the equipment you buy for personal use — and yet thousands of people do, simply because nobody told them otherwise. VAT zero-rating is one of the easiest savings to claim and one of the most often missed.
The relief applies to a wide range of equipment ‘designed solely for use by disabled people’ and bought for your own personal or domestic use — wheelchairs, stairlifts, certain adjustable beds, and much more. You do not pay the VAT in the first place; the item is zero-rated at the point of sale.
Claiming it is refreshingly simple. You complete a short eligibility declaration confirming your condition and that the item is for personal use. You do not need to prove anything to HMRC in advance, and you do not need a doctor’s letter. A reputable supplier offers the declaration as a matter of course.
If a seller insists on charging VAT on clearly eligible equipment, that is a flag worth questioning. The relief sits alongside grants and council funding, and we set the whole funding picture out in our full grants and home-adaptations guide.