Zero rating of transport of disabled passengers confirmed

HMRC has confirmed that the scope of its policy on the zero rate for transport services has not changed after the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Jigsaw Medical Services v CRC [2018] STC 2022.

In essence when a vehicle is designed or adapted to carry one or more persons safely in a wheelchair and were it not for those changes alone the vehicle would seat ten or more passengers the supply of passenger transport in that vehicle may be zero rated.

HMRC says that demonstrating ten seats can fit in a vehicle is not enough for zero rating to apply. The seats must be usable ‘in a sensible way and in acceptable circumstances’ to meet the seating criteria. These include:

• complying with legal requirements for design construction and operation of vehicles to ensure the safe transport of the passengers; and
• ensuring passengers are able safely to access and use all the seats...