Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Here the exclusion of goods out of use sits closer to your stock than for any other type.
Reusable building materials fall under the margin; demolition waste does not.
Reclaimed building materials fall under the margin scheme as long as they can be used again. Demolition waste and material that only serves as raw material falls outside.
Reclamation is a trade where the edge of second-hand goods plays a part daily. A lifted internal door, a batch of old tiles or a cast-iron radiator can be used again.
Rubble, crushed concrete and material that only serves as raw material cannot. In the UK the test is article 2 of the Value Added Tax (Special Provisions) Order 1995: tangible movable property suitable for further use as it is or after repair. Raw material for recycling is not that.
The definition of second-hand goods turns on reuse: tangible movable property suitable for further use, as it is or after repair. A door you sand and rehang fits that.
Buy from a private individual, from a contractor without VAT or from a colleague working under the margin, and there is no deductible VAT. If there is VAT on the invoice, it is an ordinary purchase: gov.uk excludes any item you bought for which you were charged VAT.
Article 2 of the Value Added Tax (Special Provisions) Order 1995 defines second-hand goods as “tangible movable property that is suitable for further use as it is or after repair, other than motor cars, works of art, collectors’ items or antiques and other than precious metals and precious stones”. Article 12(2) opens the margin scheme to “works of art, antiques and collectors’ items” and “second-hand goods”.
That is the whole test, and it is a test about the goods, not about your trade. The power to charge VAT on the profit margin sits in section 50A of the VAT Act 1994, which also names motor vehicles separately. Article 12(3) of the 1995 Order adds the purchase side: you must have taken possession of the goods on a supply on which no VAT was chargeable, or on another margin-scheme sale. gov.uk (VAT margin schemes) puts it plainly: you cannot use a margin scheme for “any item you bought for which you were charged VAT”. Belgium, which follows the EU VAT Directive, keeps its own exclusion list: FPS Finance names new goods, precious metals, precious stones and pearls, renovated goods, goods consumed on first use and goods that cannot be used again in the same state, under article 58, § 4 of the Belgian VAT Code and Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994. The four-country panel below shows where that changes the answer.
The example is a batch of old tiles: bought for €180.00, sold for €520.00. Put your own figures in.
Sold at a loss: no margin on this item, so no VAT. In the UK you work item by item: the loss counts as zero and gives you nothing back.
The VAT is inside the margin, not on top of it. That is the mistake this calculator is built to prevent: 20% on this example’s margin of 340 is 68.00, while in the UK you owe one-sixth, 56.67 — the 16.67% gov.uk quotes. At Belgium’s 21%, the same mistake turns €59.01 into €71.40. How to do this across a whole return period — and why France calculates piece by piece by law — is set out in How do you calculate margin VAT?
HMRC draws the line at recycling: items broken down for onward sale can stay in global accounting, but not where eligible second-hand goods are recycled and sold on as new goods, such as scrap melted down into metal bars (VATMARG03300). Demolition waste sold as raw material is on the wrong side of that line, even when it still fetches money. Belgium names goods out of use on its exclusion list.
A second line is what you make. A beam you dress and resell stays the same beam; a window frame rebuilt from old timber is different goods from what you bought. gov.uk’s global accounting guidance rules out using eligible items to produce something that is not eligible, and Belgium and France treat a heavy rebuild as renovated or new goods.
In the UK, whether building materials fall under the scheme is a matter of UK law: HMRC runs its own margin schemes under section 50A of the VAT Act 1994. Belgium, the Netherlands and France all follow the same EU VAT Directive (2006/112/EC). Each country interprets the rules itself; where that makes a difference for building materials, this page says so. The rate and the calculation method always differ.
Margin across the whole return period. Article 58, § 4 VAT Code and RD no. 53.
Item by item (Wet OB 1968, art. 28b). Per period only if the inspector designates you on request (Uitvoeringsbesluit OB 1968, art. 4c(1)(b)). An antique or collector’s item goes per period by default.
Legally piece by piece, but globalisation per period is allowed, with no prior election. CGI art. 297 A; BOFiP § 260.
HMRC’s own scheme, outside the EU. Below the registration threshold you pay nothing.
Material recycled and sold on as raw material is no longer margin goods in the UK (VATMARG03300); Belgium names goods out of use on its exclusion list.
If your supplier charged you VAT, the material is not margin goods, whether or not you deducted it.
In reclamation you almost always work in batches. The UK lets you use global accounting for bulk purchases, as long as no individual item cost more than £500 (gov.uk). Not a split after the fact.
In the UK each margin item goes into the stockbook or the global accounting records (gov.uk); waste sold as raw material does not belong there.
This is an explanation, not tax advice. Whether the margin scheme is the right choice in your case, and how to enter it in your return, is a question for your accountant.
Yes, as long as they can be used again. Article 2 of the Value Added Tax (Special Provisions) Order 1995 defines second-hand goods as tangible movable property suitable for further use as it is or after repair. A lifted door, old tiles or a radiator fit that. Belgium uses the same definition.
That falls outside when it is sold as raw material: HMRC excludes eligible goods recycled and sold on as new material (VATMARG03300), and Belgium names goods out of use explicitly. That it still fetches money changes nothing.
Then it is an ordinary purchase with deduction, not margin goods: gov.uk excludes any item you bought for which you were charged VAT. With purchases from contractors and demolition firms that is the case you meet most often.
In the UK, at 20%, the VAT is one-sixth of the margin: €340 ÷ 6 = €56.67 (in pounds the sum works the same way). In Belgium, at 21%, €59.01 (€340 × 21/121).
The same question, a different kind of piece. The answer differs more often than you would expect.
Every piece gets its own purchase price, selling price and scheme. Vintro Pro keeps margin goods separate from the rest and works out your margin per return period.
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