This page is general information, not tax, VAT or benefits advice. Your accountant, HMRC and (if relevant) Access to Work decide your case. The figure on our written quote is the amount you pay us — we do not add a surprise VAT extra at the till.
Guide prices and quotes are the amount due for that fitting. We do not tack VAT on afterwards. The invoice will show how the supply is treated (exempt medical care, VAT-inclusive, or otherwise). That is what “remove VAT” means here: no extra line on top of the quote.
Ordinary hearing aids are not generally zero-rated as “disability goods”. HMRC VAT Notice 701/7 (para 4.5.5) lists most hearing aids as products that do not qualify for that relief. Children’s auditory training systems and some specialist equipment (for example certain TV listeners) can be different. We will not advertise “VAT-free hearing aids” as a blanket claim.
A hearing-aid fitting can be a retail sale of goods, or part of a registered clinician’s medical care. Those two routes are taxed differently. Your paperwork states which applies. Batteries, accessories and non-qualifying extras can be treated differently from the instruments themselves. If you need a VAT invoice for a company, say so when you book.
Buying hearing aids for your own hearing is usually a personal medical cost, not an automatic income-tax deduction just because you work for yourself. Do not assume you can put the whole invoice through the business. Ask your accountant. The usual public scheme is Access to Work (GOV.UK): self-employed people can apply for workplace support (for example equipment that helps you do the job). DWP decides what, if anything, is funded — not this clinic. You will need ID and typically a Unique Taxpayer Reference. We can provide a detailed quote and invoice for an application; we cannot promise a grant.
If your employer pays for equipment so you can do the job (including, in some cases, hearing aids or workplace listening kit), it is often not a taxable benefit in kind where the main purpose is to enable you to perform your duties and the conditions in the disability equipment exemption are met (see HMRC Employment Income Manual and SI 2002/1596). It usually has to sit under Access to Work, the Equality Act 2010, or similar arrangements, and be available on the same terms to other disabled staff. If you buy the aids yourself with no employer reimbursement, that exemption does not turn the cost into a tax deduction.
We will not tell you a scheme number that “always gets VAT off”, write a false disability declaration, or describe a grant as approved before DWP writes to you. Bring your accountant or HR letter if a company is paying.
Ask for a quote we can put on headed paper · Finance
Sources to check: GOV.UK VAT Notice 701/7; GOV.UK Access to Work; HMRC EIM on equipment for disabled employees. Rules change.