OPTICIANS VAT exemption claims - AEL guide

Customs & Excise have accepted that Opticians offer essentially 2 services to patients.

The first one is the professional dispensing service. Because of the high clinical element of this service, Opticians do not have to suffer the entire 17.5% vat on the sales revenue generated. The proportion of the income that is not subject to vat is called the VAT exemption.

Many Practices will have a number of exemptions in place relating to
- dispensing of contact lenses
- dispensing of spectacles
- dispensing of other sight correction products

A E L have agreed with Customs & Excise exemptions as high as 80% for clients.
It should be noted however that the exemptions will vary from practice to practice depending on the degree of qualified staff and the level of professional service offered. Each practice claim should be viewed upon its own merits.

The second service provided by Opticians is the provision of products for sale, and full output tax of 17.5% must be paid over to Customs on these sales revenues.