- VAT rules for unmarked emergency vehicles are complex and open to interpretation
- Fire and rescue services use both marked and unmarked vehicles with different VAT implications
- PSTAX consultants helped shape HMRC guidance on VAT recovery for unmarked vehicles
- Private use of vehicles typically restricts or blocks VAT recovery
- Some emergency vehicles have special status allowing private use to be disregarded for VAT
- A specific category of unmarked cars for fire services faced VAT recovery issues
- These cars are treated specially under income tax rules due to their emergency response role
- PSTAX argued that if private use is disregarded for income tax, it should be for VAT too
- HMRC accepted this argument after negotiations
- Resulted in significant VAT refunds and ongoing savings for fire and rescue services
Source: pstax.co.uk
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
