Visiting my local university library this evening, I noticed on the
tables a portable notice which said that as students were exempt from
paying VAT for purchases and they should produce their student ID
cards when purchasing anything. Does anyone know the details and the
fine print of this concession?

It might be worth my while signing on for a course at my local FE
college before buying an expensive item VAT free by showing my student
ID card!

Alasdair.

"Alasdair" wrote in message
...
Visiting my local university library this evening, I noticed on the
tables a portable notice which said that as students were exempt from
paying VAT for purchases and they should produce their student ID
cards when purchasing anything. Does anyone know the details and the
fine print of this concession?

That's a new one! I doubt this is the case.


It might be worth my while signing on for a course at my local FE
college before buying an expensive item VAT free by showing my student
ID card!

Not to evade VAT on VAT rated goods, no.

CRF

Alasdair ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying :

Visiting my local university library this evening, I noticed on the
tables a portable notice which said that as students were exempt from
paying VAT for purchases and they should produce their student ID
cards when purchasing anything. Does anyone know the details and the
fine print of this concession?

AFAIK (and I'm VAT registered, although I don't sell to students) there's
nothing general.

It may be a case of the Uni "paying the VAT" (giving a discount equivalent
to the VAT) to registered students.

In article ,
Alasdair wrote:
Visiting my local university library this evening, I noticed on the
tables a portable notice which said that as students were exempt from
paying VAT for purchases and they should produce their student ID
cards when purchasing anything. Does anyone know the details and the
fine print of this concession?

If you type "student vat exempt purchase" into google, one of the first
hits you get is

http://www.vat.bham.ac.uk/vatincss.htm

which seems to state the position fairly clearly. It looks like
there are some quite specific exemptions that require various
conditions to be met (ie "at cost", "necessary for coursework"),
when a student purchases from a university that they attend.

-patrick.

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 02:55:03 +0000, Alasdair
wrote:

Visiting my local university library this evening, I noticed on the
tables a portable notice which said that as students were exempt from
paying VAT for purchases and they should produce their student ID
cards when purchasing anything. Does anyone know the details and the
fine print of this concession?


Either you have misread the notice, or the library have a notice which
is *far* too general.

There is no general exemption for students at all.

What *does* exist is an exemption for education, and for goods
supplied which are "closely related" to that education. That means
things directly for use by students, and which are *necessary* for
them to obtain in order to receive the education.

In the university library, it could well be that most of the items
they sell are things which are materials needed for coursework
(although books are zero rated anyhow, associated CDs aren't for
instance).

Details here (In particular section 8)
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel= pageLibrary_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000117&property Type=document
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