There has been much discussion in the media and on social media subsequent to calls for bras not to be subject to VAT.
This follows similar successful calls for VAT to be removed from women’s sanitary products such as tampons and period pants. In this article, we will set the debate on a factual footing and consider the broader context of the subject.
Background
Bras are an item of clothing and subject to VAT at the standard rate.
On 16 April 2024, at the Society of Radiographers’ Conference for diagnostic radiographers, grounds were given to justify the removal of VAT. These grounds were carefully worded.
“Those who are wearing a bra size D or above often get backaches, aching shoulders and neck pain, because of the weight of their breasts.
“Wearing a good-quality, well-fitted bra could alleviate some of these issues, and reduce time off sick for musculoskeletal issues.
“The imposition of VAT on bras disproportionately affects women. Taxing bras could be considered discriminatory as per the Equality Act 2010.”
The VAT legislation taxes everything. However, there are mechanisms to remove VAT from certain supplies and these mechanisms generally appear to be socially motivated.
Examples include:
- zero-ratings for food, books, water, medicine, charities, disability aids and new homes;
- VAT exemptions for education, health, property and finances; and
- reduced rates for domestic fuel and renovating empty homes.
The legislation itself does not provide any principles on which categories are selected for removing VAT and it is parliament’s intention to which one must look. There are many other categories of supply from which VAT is either removed fully or partially, but the above is a good illustration of what parliament might have been thinking when forming the legislation.
Context: other removals of VAT
Clothing has not been given any special category for VAT and is therefore standard rated (other than children’s clothing, protective boots and helmets). It is not clear why clothing was not included in the categories which remove VAT from supplies.
However, there have been other instances of health-related items where the supply was originally subject to VAT, but from which VAT was eventually removed.
- 2021: Women’s sanitary products were added to zero-rating immediately upon Brexit.
- 2020: PPE was added to zero-rating schedule.
- 2024: Period pants were zero-rated.
There are also VAT debates in other areas of health, such as cosmetic surgery. Is cosmetic surgery standard-rated or does it fall under the exemption for health? HMRC’s approach is to exempt cosmetic surgery where it is “undertaken as an element of a health care treatment programme”, but to standard-rate otherwise.
The issue of bras and health has been considered before. In 2016, import duty was removed from bras (indeed it never applied), but only in very narrow circumstances. This was the finding of the Supreme Court in the case of Amoena (UK) Ltd [2016] UKSC 41, who said that a mastectomy bra was an accessory to an artificial breast form and therefore import duty was nil. It was the health factor which secured zero import duty: the mastectomy bra helped “compensate for the defect or disability” after a mastectomy. In VAT, zero-rating can be secured if the bra is a “disability aid”, such as mastectomy bras. However, this is an interpretation of the existing legislation, which applies very narrowly and does not apply to most bras.
Changes
The law as it stands does not allow for VAT to be removed from bras. For this to change, the law would have to be amended. This should be easier for parliament to accomplish now that Great Britain is no longer subject to EU VAT law, and the question is whether parliament wishes to do so.
The focus on health, particularly women’s health, has had some success previously in motivating parliament to remove VAT from certain products. It is against this background that the radiographers’ call for bras to be zero-rated understandably includes references to the health advantages.
Conclusion
Health is already a category where parliament has been willing to remove VAT charges and grounding the argument of the health benefits is perhaps more likely to be successful. Setting specifics (“size D and above”) might also make it practical for parliament to implement.
However, this approach does not address the fundamental question of why VAT is not removed from clothes in the same way as other socially motivated basics (e.g. food, housing, education, utilities, etc). Perhaps a distinction could be drawn between simple clothing and high fashion (as happens between basic food and confectionary). Even if removing VAT from basic clothing might be difficult to implement in practice, perhaps it is simply the right thing to do.
It is an interesting and potentially far-reaching debate, which from a glance on social media has already become heated. What is your view?
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