UK to impose standard rate of VAT (20%) on charging EVs at public charging points.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed that the VAT on public electric vehicle (EV) charging stands at 20%, having received requests for clarity from businesses around reduced rates due to the level of electricity being supplied.
HMRC explained that de minimis – a mechanism that allows a 5% VAT rate for supplies of small quantities of electricity – does not apply to public EV charging, and that there is therefore no relief or exemption to the standard VAT rate of 20%.
InstaVolt CEO issues statement in response to HMRC VAT Brief
Today HMRC has released a VAT Brief stating that the standard rate of VAT (20%) will apply to charging electric vehicles (EVs) at public charging points. The Brief also confirms that the ‘de minimis’ provisions – which allow for a reduced rate of VAT of 5% to be charged – does now not apply to public charging. This is extremely disappointing and immediately increases the cost to InstaVolt by 15% which we have to reluctantly pass onto our customers.
Since installing our first rapid charger in 2017 we have revolutionised the public charging experience for drivers. We were the first major network to introduce straightforward pence per kilowatt-hour (kWh) pricing and contactless payment, and put reliability and customer experience at the forefront of our offer. Since 2017 we have stayed true to those principals, and maintained our price of £0.35p/kWh despite the wholesale energy price alone increasing by over 20% over the past four years.
With the announcement today, we have no option but to apply the additional VAT to our base price. Therefore, effective from 10pm on Thursday, 27th May, our price will regrettably increase to £0.40p per kWh. To be clear, InstaVolt will not profit from or retain any of the price increase. The rise is entirely attributable to VAT which will all be passed to HMRC.
Information Source: Media/Instavolt
