Vat relief information

What is VAT Relief?

Under certain conditions some of the products from our shop can be purchased with zero rate VAT, in other words they may be exempt from VAT. This is because the UK government provides some special rules that we can apply when these conditions are met.

There are 3 conditions that must be met for us to supply you products at a zero rate of VAT. These are:
• You declare that you (or the person for whom you are purchasing the products on behalf of) are chronically sick or disabled *
• The products that you are purchasing are eligible to be supplied at a zero rate of VAT **
• The products that you are purchasing are being supplied to you (or the person for whom you are purchasing the products on behalf of) for domestic or personal use only ***

For us to process your order with VAT relief all these conditions must be met. You will also need to indicate to us that you wish us to apply VAT relief either when you register on www.aidis.org or when you are placing your order. If you do this you will see that the amount of VAT on your order is reduced in the following stages of the order submission process. However, only the VAT that is applicable to the products in your order that are eligible to be supplied at a zero rate of VAT will be removed from the order. Any other products in your order that are not eligible for VAT relief will have VAT charged on them at the standard rate of 17.5%. Please also note that we have to charge VAT on the Standard Carriage Charge that we apply to each order.

* The VAT Exemption Form

You must complete and return to us a signed copy of our VAT Exemption form. This form is a simple declaration that you (or the person you are purchasing the products on behalf of) are chronically sick, i.e. have a long-term illness, or are disabled.

You do not have to be registered disabled (with disability living allowance or attendance allowance), have the form signed by a doctor or supply us with any kind of certificate to claim under these rules; however you must be specific when describing your condition on the form.

You can also use this form if you are purchasing products on behalf of someone, for example a child, someone you care for or someone who is not able to complete the form themselves because of their illness or disability.

If the VAT Exemption form is not completed and returned to us them we are obliged by law to either charge the VAT on your order when we process it, or alternatively at a later date if we have processed the order applying VAT and have not received the completed form within a reasonable period of time after the order was placed. To avoid this situation occurring it is the policy of Aidis to suspend the processing of an order placed with a claim for VAT relief until the duly completed form is received by us. If we do not receive the form within 14 days of receiving the order, we will process the order without VAT Exemption.

When you are placing an order and claiming VAT relief as part of the checkout process you should complete and return the VAT Exemption form to us by post as soon as possible after submitting your order so as to avoid us charging the higher rate.

The form is available in a PDF and a plain text version from the links below:
PDF: VAT Form
Plain Text Document: VAT Form

All sections of the form should be completed and the form needs to be returned by post to:

VAT Exemption Processing
Aidis Trust
3 Gunthorpe Street
London
E1 7RQ

** Products Eligible for VAT Relief

Not all of the products that we sell are eligible to be supplied at a zero rate of VAT. There are a number of rules defined by VAT laws whereby products can be registered as eligible. The law that applies to the eligible products that Aidis sells relates to the intention for which the products where originally designed, in that they are ‘equipment and appliances designed solely for use by disabled people’. The law relating to this defines the term ‘disabled’ as meaning ‘disabled or chronically sick’.

It is the responsibility of the manufacturer of the product (or importer if the product is derived from outside the UK) to make a claim for the eligibility of a product based upon this definition. The decision as to whether to allow VAT relief on a product is made by the government following such a claim. For all products that we sell, the claim for eligibility on these products is outside of the control of Aidis and has been defined by our suppliers.

*** Products Purchased for Domestic or Personal Use Only

The law relating to this defines the term ‘domestic or personal use’ as meaning the products must be supplied with the intention to ‘be made available specifically for the use of an eligible individual (or series of eligible individuals)’.

The law also defines the following as exemptions to ‘personal’ or ‘domestic’ use (and therefore not eligible for VAT relief):
• goods and services used for business purposes;
• supplies made widely available for a whole group of people to use as they wish;
• goods and services supplied to:
   - an in patient or resident of a hospital or nursing home;
   - any person attending the premises of a hospital or nursing home for care or treatment; and
   - any other person or commercial establishment where the goods are for use by, or in connection with, either of the above

For more information on the rules and regulations applied to VAT relief please see the section UK HM Customs and Excise webpage concerning VAT relief for disabled people

During the process of registering, you will be given the opportunity to register you

During the process of submitting your order you will be presented with a checkbox (providing your order contains at least one product that is eligible for VAT relief) where you can tell us if you think you qualify for the relief. If you have already registered your VAT exemption with Aidis, simply log in and VAT on the relevant product(s) will be removed.

If you think you are eligible for VAT relief but have not yet sent us a VAT exemption form you may submit your order without this form. When we receive your order we will email you a form to fill in and return to us. Alternatively, this form can be downloaded here. We will not process your order for 14 days unless we have received your form. If we have not received your form after 14 days we will process the order without VAT exemption.