30 June 2020 
Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
Thanks to James Gillen at The University of Manchester for clarifying a point regarding the importation of medical equipment VAT free that has been causing issues for some members and offering advice on how this issue can be resolved.
Members are experiencing challenges from agents when they use the donated medical equipment CPC code in order to claim VAT relief on the importation of purchased goods.
James has advised that he has had a few discussions with agents when claiming medical zero rating relief in the past. The ‘donated medical equipment’ (CPC 40 00 C17) is the procedure used to claim zero rating relief on relevant goods. The ‘donated’ part of the title is only specific to claiming duty relief, the goods can either be purchased or donated on the VAT side.
Previously, the customs guidance covering this was notice 341, it appears the new guidance Pay no import duty or VAT on donated medical equipment has replaced this. In the new guidance, it appears that HMRC have omitted further key information as highlighted in bold and underlined below:
Notice 341
‘2.4 Can I get VAT relief too
Yes. Certain goods are zero-rated for VAT and consequently no tax is payable on them. If your goods are eligible for duty relief (paragraph 2.2 and paragraph 2.3), you can also claim relief from VAT under the zero rating procedures. We explain how in paragraph 3.3. Even if not eligible for duty relief, you can still claim VAT relief if your goods are:
N.B. 3.4 (rather than 3.3) simply states to submit a VAT declaration.
VAT relief can therefore be claimed in isolation and although it doesn’t state specifically, a NIRU certificate is not needed.
Import agents tend to refer to the CPC rules in the Tariff (search for 40 00 C17 within web page to find). Again, these rules aren’t particularly clear and agents don't come across this procedure often. Therefore it is worth challenging them.
