>>"To qualify for zero-rating, the goods must have been specially
designed to be suitable for use by a disabled person." "General
purpose goods which are ofbenefit to disabled people but which are used
by disabled people and by able-bodied people alike are not eligible."
Can someone please tell me what on earth is being supplied to
dyslexic students which is for their use alone and cannot be used by
non disabled people?
Regards, Anne-Denise.<<
textHELP!, Omni 3000 and one or two other things. It does not have to be
not usable by non-disabled people, but to have been definitely designed
("solely") for the use of disabled people (ie not general purpose). It
doesn't matter if a few non-disabled people happen to find it useful.
Although if lots of non-disabled people find it useful, the VAT person
would start to argue that it couldn't have been designed just for disabled
people.
Further to the forum's discussion on this, I have now been able to find out
from the Dyslexia Insitute about the VAT tribunal case which was decided
against them. They thought, a couple of years ago, that they would take the
issue of VAT on Franklin electronic dictionaries to the Tribunal and the
judgement went against them on two grounds:
1) Because the items were not designed for the disabled. (the fact that
they are sold in Dixon's etc would seem to suggest that this is true, and I
would not have tried to get zero rating for them);
2) Because the Tribunal believed that dyslexia was not a disability.
I would personally have accepted the ruling because of ground one. The DI
believe that ground 2 would not hold today, even though they accepted
ground 1 at the time. I am certainly not changing our policy that we sell
textHELP! at zero rate if people fill in the VAT declaration, as I think
that this is clearly within the letter and intention of the regulations.
The Franklin question raises another issue. I would argue that the LM6000A
& SE which speak, advertise themselves as for special needs and cost UKP
162 to 242 are also zero ratable, as practically nobody without a special
need would want them and they have been clearly devised for that market.
Just to confuse the issue futher, we have just had an order for a textHELP!
network licence from a college, with an attached VAT declaration claiming
zero rating as a charity, with the goods being made available for "one or
more handicapped people for domestic or personal use". Can anybody tell me:
a) what advantage there is to the college in having it zero rated (can't
you deduct it as input tax any way?)
b)Do you think that the college's interpretation is correct? I would argue
that VAT Notice 701/1's comment applies that zero rating "does not apply if
the goods are to be made available to disabled people in general"
Has any other institution tried this, as a charity, with any other goods
for disabled people?
Ian Litterick
iANSYST Ltd Dyslectech Email [log in to unmask]
The White House, 72 Fen Road, CAMBRIDGE, CB4 1UN, UK
Tel(+44) (0)1223 42 01 01. Fax(+44) (0)1223 42 66 44
FREEPhone from UK only 0500 14 15 15
web url http://www.dyslexic.com
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