Tag Archives: VAT-electricity

Charging EVs at public stations is at 5% VAT – The Charge My Street case

By   10 March 2026
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Latest from the courts

Reduced VAT rate for public EV charging

In the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) case of Charge My Street Limited (CMS) the issue was whether the supply of electric vehicle (EV) charging in public places qualified for the reduced rate of VAT – 5%.

The appellant contended that the reduced rate applied to its supplies because they were provided at a premises and were below the de minimis – 1000 kilowatt hours (kWh) a month applicable to domestic use of electricity.

HMRC formed the view that these supplies were standard rated at 20% on the basis that what was being provided was not for ‘domestic use’. Furthermore, the de minimis was breached because the supply should be calculated by reference only to the period during which the electricity was actually being provided, rather than to a specific person at any premises in a month.

Legislation

The relevant legislation is found at The VAT Act 1994, Schedule 7A, Group 1, Item 1, Note 5(g),

Decision

The FTT found that ‘premises’ for this purpose did not require any concept of legal ownership by the recipient of the electricity, nor was it confined to buildings, but could include defined public spaces, such as car parks. The judge also accepted CMS’s argument that the de minimis limit is measured in terms of how much electricity is provided by a supplier to a person at any premises in the relevant month. It was accepted that public EV charging would always be under the 1000 kWh limit.

The FTT allowed appellant’s appeal in principle.

VAT – Fuel and power guidance updated

By   11 February 2025
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HMRC has updated its notice Updated its Notice 701/19: Fuel and power.

The Notice explains how suppliers and users should treat supplies of fuel and power for VAT purposes and it sets out how to treat a number of other supplies connected with fuel and power.

The update provides more detail of supplies for domestic use.

Supplies of fuel and power for domestic use are eligible for the reduced rate of 5%.

The provider must be certain that the supply is to a dwelling or certain types of residential accommodation. Examples of allowed residential accommodation are:

  • armed forces residential accommodation
  • caravans
  • children’s homes
  • homes providing care for the elderly or disabled, people with a past or present dependence on alcohol or drugs or people with a past or present mental disorder
  • houseboats
  • houses, flats or other dwellings
  • hospices
  • institutions that are the sole or main residence of at least 90% of their residents
  • monasteries, nunneries and similar religious communities
  • school and university residential accommodation for students or pupils
  • self catering holiday accommodation

The following buildings are not considered residential accommodation for the purposes of fuel and power:

  • hospitals
  • prisons or similar establishments
  • hotels, inns or similar establishments

VAT Treatment of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme

By   14 November 2022
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HMRC Notice 701/19 has been updated to cover payments under the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.

What is the scheme?

This scheme provides a price reduction to help protect all non-domestic customers in Great Britain from excessively high bills.

All non-domestic customers in Great Britain are eligible for this scheme. This includes businesses, voluntary, and public sector organisations (such as charities, schools, and hospitals).

The scheme administrator will compensate suppliers for the reduced prices that they are charging non-domestic customers and there is no need to take action or apply to the scheme as the price reduction will be applied to bills automatically.

The scheme applies to energy usage from 1 October 2022 up to and including 31 March 2023 with savings first seen in October bills.

VAT Treatment

Payments made to suppliers under the scheme are grant payments and outside the scope of VAT. VAT is only due on the amount suppliers actually charge their customers for energy supplied.

Any VAT incurred by suppliers in relation to the operation of the scheme relates to the taxable supply of energy and is therefore recoverable, subject to normal rules.

If changes are made to the scheme in the future, VAT liability may change.

VAT: Fuel and Power Notice updated

By   4 October 2022
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HMRC Guidance: Fuel and power (VAT Notice 701/19)

This Notice has recently been updated. It now covers the VAT Reverse Charge measures for wholesale gas and electricity and construction services (Section 2) . There is more information about wholesale gas and electricity and using the VAT domestic Reverse Charge at section 3 of Notice 735: Domestic reverse charge procedure (VAT Notice 735).

Sections 4.1 and 4.3 now include more detail about hydrogen gas.

Brief overview

The reduced rate of VAT of 5% applies to supplies of fuel and power for qualifying use.

Qualifying use means:

  • fuel and power for domestic use
  • fuel and power for charity non-business use
  • fuel and power where the amount supplied does not exceed the small quantities, called the de minimis limits
  • fuel and power partly for qualifying use and partly for other purposes, where 60% or more of the supply is for qualifying use

Other supplies of fuel and power in the UK are standard rated.