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Collectors’ items are a category of their own in the scheme. That sounds more important than it is — and that is good news.
Collectors' items fall under the margin scheme, as a category of their own.
UK law names collectors' items separately as goods the margin scheme applies to, alongside second-hand goods, works of art and antiques.
With collectors’ items the same question keeps coming back: is this second-hand goods or something separate? The answer is that either can be true, and for your VAT it makes no difference.
In the UK, article 12(2) of the Value Added Tax (Special Provisions) Order 1995 names the categories in two lines: works of art, antiques and collectors’ items, and second-hand goods. All of them fall under the same scheme, with the same calculation. Belgium’s FPS Finance names the same four.
In practice that means you do not have to decide whether a piece is strictly a collectors’ item or ordinary second-hand goods. Both routes end in the same place. The bar for a collector’s item is high anyway: section 21(5) of the VAT Act 1994 speaks of pieces of zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical, archaeological, palaeontological, ethnographic, numismatic or philatelic interest, and gov.uk warns that not all items that can be collected are eligible.
What does count is the buying side. Buy from a private individual, from an estate or from a colleague working under the margin, and there is no deductible VAT, so the scheme applies.
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 collection: bought for €320.00, sold for €780.00. 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 460 is 92.00, while in the UK you owe one-sixth, 76.67 — the 16.67% gov.uk quotes. At Belgium’s 21%, the same mistake turns €79.83 into €96.60. 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?
The limits apply in full. New pieces brought to market as collectibles come with VAT on the invoice, and gov.uk excludes any item you bought for which you were charged VAT. Article 2 of the 1995 Order leaves investment gold coins out of collectors’ items, and precious metals and precious stones out of second-hand goods; Belgium adds pearls. That mostly bites with coins and jewellery.
Pieces damaged beyond any meaning to a collector are no longer collector’s pieces; Belgium names goods out of use on its exclusion list. In practice that is the residue of a bulk purchase.
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 collectors' items 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 collectors' items, 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.
They do not. Four categories, one scheme, the same formula.
Bought with VAT, they are outside the scheme in the UK (gov.uk); in Belgium FPS Finance excludes new goods outright.
With coins and jewellery it sits right next to your piece. See the pages on coins and jewellery.
For a collection at one price, the UK lets you split it and sell the items under global accounting, as long as no single item cost more than £500 (gov.uk).
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. In the UK, article 12(2) of the Value Added Tax (Special Provisions) Order 1995 opens the margin scheme to collectors' items, defined by section 21(5) of the VAT Act 1994; gov.uk sums them up as stamps, coins and currency and other pieces of scientific, historical or archaeological interest. Belgium's FPS Finance names the same category.
Not for your VAT. Both categories sit in article 12(2) of the 1995 Order and follow the same calculation: the VAT is inside your margin, one-sixth at the standard rate. The difference only shows on the invoice wording gov.uk asks for: 'margin scheme - second hand goods' or 'margin scheme - collectors' items and antiques'.
Yes. In the UK any item bought with VAT charged stays out, investment gold coins are not collectors' items (article 2 of the 1995 Order), and precious metals and stones are excluded. In Belgium FPS Finance also excludes new goods, pearls, renovated goods and goods out of use, even when they are collected.
In the UK, at 20%, the VAT is one-sixth of the margin: €460 ÷ 6 = €76.67 (in pounds the sum works the same way). In Belgium, at 21%, €79.83 (€460 × 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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