HMRC has updated VAT Notice 48: Extra Statutory Concessions, which gives details of all HMRC Extra Statutory Concessions (ESCs) in force at the time of publication.

This notice has been updated to include details of ESCs that have been granted, or become obsolete. ESCs 3.20, 3.23, 3.28, 3.31 and 6.2 are now obsolete, following recent consultation and as part of the broader review of ESCs following the Wilkinson case.

ESCs still effective and relevant to charities including

• ESC 3.3 where certain items used in connection with collections of monetary donations can be zero rated when provided to a charity.
• ESC 3.19 where ‘relevant goods’ are supplied to a charity: whose sole purpose and function is to provide a range of care services to meet the needs of handicapped people (of which transport might form part); or which provides transport services predominantly to handicapped people; the supply of those goods will be zero-rated, as will the repair and maintenance of those goods and the supply of any further goods in connection with such repair or maintenance.
• 3.21 VAT: sales of poor quality goods  – whereby donated goods, which would normally be sold to the public, are zero-rated when sold to rag/scrap merchants, when the goods are unsuitable for sale to the general public due to the poor quality.