Vintro Pro
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Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
An instrument that is repaired stays second-hand goods. An instrument that is rebuilt becomes something else.
Second-hand musical instruments fall under the margin scheme.
Second-hand musical instruments fall under the margin scheme. A full restoration can run into the renovated-goods exclusion.
A played instrument is tangible movable property that can be used again. That clears the tax authority’s test.
The question that really matters here comes out of the workshop. Instruments are rarely resold untouched: they are tuned, serviced, sometimes fully restored.
The definition of second-hand goods itself speaks of goods usable again as they are or after repair. New strings, a fresh tuning or a repaired key mechanism therefore do not take an instrument out of the scheme.
Old instruments may additionally count as antiques or collectors’ items. Both categories are named separately, with the same treatment.
Belgium’s FPS Finance defines second-hand goods as “tangible movable property that is suitable for further use as it is or after repair”. Excluded are, among others, new goods, precious metals, precious stones and pearls, renovated goods, goods that are consumed on first use, and goods that cannot be used again in the same state.
That is the whole test, and it is a test about the goods, not about your trade. Alongside second-hand goods, FPS Finance explicitly names works of art, collectors’ items, antiques and second-hand means of transport. The scheme sits in article 58, § 4 of the Belgian VAT Code and is worked out in Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994. This page describes the Belgian scheme; the four-country panel below shows where the Dutch, French and UK rules diverge.
The example is a second-hand guitar: bought for €180.00, sold for €430.00. Put your own figures in.
Sold at a loss: there is no margin, so no VAT is due. A negative margin does not give you anything back either.
The VAT is inside the margin, not on top of it. That is the mistake this calculator is built to prevent: 21% on a €400 margin is €84, while you owe €69.42. 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?
Renovated goods are excluded, as are goods processed so heavily that at the point of sale you cannot establish they are the same piece. A piano with a fully renewed action, strings and case comes close to that line.
Instruments bought to be broken and sold as parts fall under goods out of use. And new instruments from end-of-line stock are new goods.
Whether musical instruments fall under the scheme is answered the same way in all four countries: it is European law. The rate and the calculation method are not.
Margin across the whole return period. Article 58, § 4 VAT Code and RD no. 53.
Globalisation scheme or individual method. Wet OB 1968, article 28b onwards.
Legally piece by piece. Globalisation is an option there, not the default. CGI art. 297 A.
HMRC’s own scheme, outside the EU. Below the registration threshold you pay nothing.
The margin is selling price minus purchase price. With instruments, where restoration is expensive, that feels unfair — but it is the rule.
The renovated-goods exclusion is not a formality.
Goods out of use are on the exclusion list.
If you deducted VAT at purchase, the instrument is not margin goods.
Written on 8 September 2026. The scheme, the definition of second-hand goods and the exclusions were measured on 8 September 2026 at Belgium’s FPS Finance, Regeling van belastingheffing over de marge, which names article 58, § 4 of the VAT Code and Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994 as its basis. Since 1 January 2026 the law of 19 December 2025 excludes goods bought at a reduced rate from the margin scheme — explained in circular 2026/C/14 of 13 January 2026, measured via eur-lex.europa.eu on 31 August 2026. FPS Finance has not yet updated its own page on that point — re-checked on 10 September 2026.
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. A played instrument is tangible movable property that can be used again, which is the definition of second-hand goods at Belgium's FPS Finance. Old instruments may additionally count as antiques or collectors' items.
Repairing is fine: the word sits in the definition of second-hand goods. Renovating is not: renovated goods are on the exclusion list, as are goods processed so heavily that they can no longer be identified as the same piece at the point of sale.
No. The margin is the difference between your selling price and the purchase price you paid your supplier. Hours, parts and transport sit outside it.
In Belgium, €43.39. The margin is €250, and €250 × 21/121 gives €43.39.
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.
Free up to 10 pieces, no card number and no end date.