VAT relief on materials purchased directly during an empty property renovation

Hi, I purchased a property that hasn't been lived in for over 5 years. I have the empty property report and my contractor is charging only 5% VAT, so that is all good. In order to save money, I have purchased a large amount of the materials directly from the suppliers, rather than through the contractor. The suppliers have all charged me 20% VAT, they wouldn't even entertain the conversation about 5% VAT. Can I claim the 15% VAT difference back? If so, how do I go about doing that on my tax return. Thanks.

The 5% (reduced rate) applies only applies to supply AND install, so if you are buying just materials from a builders merchant, they are rightly charging 20% VAT, whereas if you have a contractor/builder by the materials and then install them, the builder will charge 5% VAT on both the material costs and their labour costs. For example, you buy bricks and engage a builder to build a wall, the bricks will be at 20% because you are buying just goods, the builders labour at 5% because they are supplying install services, if you have the builder buy the bricks and build the wall, whole supply is at 5%....but yes, builder will add a mark-up on the materials so discuss with them in advance an agreeable markup for materials, bearing in mind they can probably get a large discount if they have an account with the builders merchant/store. If you are mainly using non-VAT registered builders then there is no benefit to be had from the reduced rate as the builder will not be charging any VAT to you, so you are stuck with buying materials only at 20%. There is a DIY scheme available to reclaim VAT on material only purchases, but this only applies where the property has not been lived in for more than 10 years. You mention the property has not been lived in for 5 years and so would not qualify.

Hi,
If you have purchased the goods yourself, then unfortunately there is no opportunity to recover the VAT.
If the contractor purchased the goods, then they would charge you 5% for both the materials and the labour.
There is a DIY Scheme for recovering VAT on residential properties but this would only be if the property was empty for 10 or more years.
Thank you.

Thanks, that is clear. Disappointing but clear. Much appreciated