Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Almost every vintage lamp passes the bench before it is sold. That need not stand in the way of the margin scheme.
Second-hand lighting falls under the margin scheme.
Second-hand lighting falls under the margin scheme. Rewiring stays a repair; a fitting assembled from parts depends on the country.
A used lamp 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.
Almost every vintage fitting is rewired before sale. In the UK that only raises a bookkeeping question — the rewiring stays out of the margin. In Belgium and France it raises the question of repair or renovation.
A new flex, a new lampholder or a new switch is repair work. The definition of second-hand goods itself speaks of goods usable again as they are or after repair.
Chandeliers more than 100 years old may additionally count as antiques under article 2 of the 1995 Order, a category article 12(2) names separately. The treatment stays the same.
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 vintage pendant lamp: bought for €70.00, sold for €240.00. 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 170 is 34.00, while in the UK you owe one-sixth, 28.33 — the 16.67% gov.uk quotes. At Belgium’s 21%, the same mistake turns €29.50 into €35.70. 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?
A fitting assembled from loose parts — a shade from here, a base from there — is not the goods you bought. In the UK that is not fatal: gov.uk’s global accounting guidance lets you combine two or more items to produce one item for resale, as long as each cost no more than £500. In Belgium it touches the exclusion of goods processed so heavily that at the point of sale you cannot establish they are the same piece.
Electrical safety is a real obligation, but it sits entirely apart from VAT. A lamp that is not safe may not be sold; that says nothing about the margin scheme.
In the UK, whether lighting 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 lighting, 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.
Per period by default (global accounting, Uitvoeringsbesluit OB 1968, art. 4c(1)). You can opt out in writing to the inspector, for at least five years.
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.
The margin is selling price minus purchase price. gov.uk says repairs and parts cannot be included in the calculation; you reclaim their VAT in the normal way.
In the UK, combining items into one only works under global accounting (gov.uk). In Belgium what comes into being from loose parts is not the goods you bought.
Two separate obligations. One says nothing about the other.
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).
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 used lamp 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. Chandeliers more than 100 years old may additionally count as antiques. Belgium uses the same definition.
Yes. The definition of second-hand goods itself speaks of goods suitable for further use as they are or after repair. A new flex or lampholder is repair work, and its cost stays out of the margin (gov.uk).
In the UK it can go under global accounting, which allows you to combine two or more items to produce one item for resale (gov.uk). In Belgium it falls outside: FPS Finance excludes goods processed so heavily that at the point of sale you cannot establish they are the same goods.
In the UK, at 20%, the VAT is one-sixth of the margin: €170 ÷ 6 = €28.33 (in pounds the sum works the same way). In Belgium, at 21%, €29.50 (€170 × 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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