»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp

Meaning

‘Disabled person� is defined in Legal Note 3 to Group 12 of Schedule 8 of the VAT Act 1994 as follows:

Any person who is chronically sick or disabled is ‘disabled� for the purposes of this Group.

It is a fairly wide definition, covering many of those who are sick as well as those who are disabled.

Use in VAT law

A concept common to the majority of Group 12 is that the goods or services must be supplied:

• to ‘a disbabled personâ€�; or
• to an eligible charity which serves the needs of disabled people

for zero-rating to apply.

However, in items 2(g), 2(h) and 2(i), a condition of zero-rating is that the goods must be:

• ‘designed solely for use by a disabled personâ€�; or
• ‘designed or substantially and permanently adapted for use by disabled personsâ€�.

In this context, the term ‘disabled person� becomes important as a means of judging whether the goods themselves qualify for zero-rating, and further guidance as to how to make this judgement can be found under the third, fourth and fifth subheadings of VRDP38000.

Tribunal cases

Appeal	Decision
Aquakraft Ltd (2214)	»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp Tribunal was not prepared to accept that a person was chronically sick or disabled simply by having a slipped disc.
Posturite (UK) Ltd (7848)	»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp Tribunal accepted that otherwise able bodied persons suffering from neck or back pain did not qualify as chronically sick or disabled.
G D Searle & Co Ltd (13439)	»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp Tribunal found that whilst asthma was undoubtedly a serious health problem, that did not mean that all 3 million sufferers were ‘chronically sick or disabledâ€�. On that basis, an aerosol spray for killing off dust mites was ruled ineligible for zero-rating.