Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Two questions that often get mixed up: may you sell it, and how do you calculate the VAT? Only the second is on this page.
Second-hand sports equipment falls under the margin scheme.
Second-hand sports equipment falls under the margin scheme. Gear that is no longer usable falls outside — and whether you may sell something is a separate question.
A used cycling helmet, a set of skis or a tennis racket is tangible movable property that can be used again. That clears the UK test in article 2 of the Value Added Tax (Special Provisions) Order 1995.
In this trade the VAT question often gets tangled with the safety question. Those are two separate things: the first is about what you pay, the second about what you may put on the shelf at all.
Buy from private individuals, from a club clear-out without VAT or from a colleague working under the margin, and there is no deductible VAT, so the scheme applies.
An adjustment, a new binding or a sharpened edge is repair work. That word sits in the definition of second-hand goods itself.
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 sports equipment: bought for €200.00, sold for €640.00. 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 440 is 88.00, while in the UK you owe one-sixth, 73.33 — the 16.67% gov.uk quotes. At Belgium’s 21%, the same mistake turns €76.36 into €92.40. 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?
Gear so worn or damaged that it can no longer be used is no longer suitable for further use as it is or after repair, which article 2 asks of second-hand goods; Belgium names goods out of use on its exclusion list. With protective equipment that point arrives sooner than elsewhere.
New gear from end-of-line stock comes with VAT on the invoice, and gov.uk excludes any item you bought for which you were charged VAT; Belgium also names new goods on its exclusion list. Whether you may still resell a particular piece of protective equipment is a product-safety question, entirely separate from VAT.
In the UK, gov.uk excludes any item you bought for which you were charged VAT; it does not list new goods as such. In France, goods bought from a private individual fall under the margin even if never used (rescrit BOI-RES-TVA-000270, 19 August 2026). Only Belgium’s FPS Finance names new goods as excluded. End-of-line stock bought from a business that charges you VAT falls outside the scheme in all four countries — because of that VAT, not because it is new.
In the UK, whether sports equipment 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 sports equipment, 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.
Two separate obligations. One says nothing about the other.
Gear that is no longer suitable for further use is not second-hand goods under article 2 of the 1995 Order, and Belgium names goods out of use on its exclusion list.
For a batch at one price, the UK has global accounting: the margin per VAT period, as long as no single item cost more than £500 (article 13 of the 1995 Order).
In the UK, global accounting lets you take the margin per VAT period, carrying a negative margin forward; in Belgium that is the default. With many small sales that matters.
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. Used sports equipment is tangible movable property suitable for further use, which is the definition of second-hand goods in article 2 of the Value Added Tax (Special Provisions) Order 1995, and article 12(2) opens the margin scheme to it. Belgium uses the same definition.
That is a product-safety question, not a VAT question. This page covers VAT only. What you may or may not put on the shelf is for the competent authority or your trade body.
That falls outside the scheme: it is no longer suitable for further use as it is or after repair, which article 2 of the 1995 Order asks of second-hand goods. Belgium's FPS Finance names goods out of use explicitly.
In the UK, at 20%, the VAT is one-sixth of the margin: €440 ÷ 6 = €73.33 (in pounds the sum works the same way). In Belgium, at 21%, €76.36 (€440 × 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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